The Nobel Laureate
by Abby J and Amber L
Summary: Jed reaches the height of academic success while dealing with a personal loss. This is part eleven of the Snapshots of the Past series! Story complete!
1. Chapter 1

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this story belong to NBC, WB, and Aaron Sorkin. We're just borrowing them for some fun :)

Story Summary: Jed reaches the height of academic success while dealing with a personal loss

Author's Note: Thanks to all of you readers out there. I appreciate your support more than I cay say! The first few chapters of this story may be a bit sad, but if you can hang in there, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Feedback is always appreciated!

She slipped effortlessly into a pair of plain black pumps, the gentle slope of the low heel contouring her foot as she spun around towards the mirror. With her pearls clasped in place, she gave her blonde hair a final wave, straightened her black dress, then left her bedroom. Her keys sat abandoned on the coffee table. Next to them, page three of that morning's paper revealed the picture she had highlighted with a red marker around the border.

Jed Bartlet. That was the Jed she remembered. Nearly 20 years had passed since she last saw him and he still looked like the charming young man she met in the 60s. They kept in touch over the years. Letters and postcards were exchanged after she followed her husband to Baltimore and Jed went away to Notre Dame.

He had told her about the woman who stole his heart, and a year later, a piece of paper with the words "Abbey said yes!" scribbled in black ink was attached to a lovely wedding invitation. She had been unable to make it to the ceremony because of a death in the family, but she sent a bouquet of flowers along with a gift.

While in London, Jed sent pictures of baby Lizzie wrapped inside her birth announcement. He sent condolences when she buried her own children, a message of love when her husband passed suddenly, and a note of undying support when she contemplated remarriage. But sometime between London and the move back to the States, they had lost touch. She thought about him frequently, but never put forth the effort to make contact - until now.

He was older now, more mature and accomplished. No longer a student, but a professional. A scholar, college professor, and a candidate for state legislature yet again.

She wondered why everything good in life seemed to be balanced by bad. Just last week, Jed was celebrating his victory over inexperienced challenger, Jake Tillman, in the primary. This week, he was preparing to face a day like no other - one that would surely change his life forever.

It all started on that crisp Thursday morning in September, two days after Jed won his primary. Abbey had taken an overnight shift at the hospital, so it was up to Jed to get the girls ready for school before he left for work. As he, Zoey, and Ellie sat at the kitchen table for breakfast, he quizzed his middle daughter.

"Five!" Ellie yelled in response to the card he flashed in front of her.

"Good!" Jed replied proudly as he presented another card. "What's five times two?"

"Ten!"

"Very good! And five times three?"

"Fifteen!"

"Are you sure you're not cheating?" he teased, provoking a chuckle out of the third grader.

Jed and Abbey had started tutoring Ellie on multiplication tables in the summer to make sure she was ready once school started. They had no idea Ellie would catch on so quickly. While the rest of the class was working on their 2s, Ellie and one other student had managed to work their way to the 5s.

"I don't cheat. I know them all," she assured her father with a smile so wide it made Jed's heart melt.

"We'll just see about that." Matching that infectious grin, he mischievously winked as he presented her with another card. "Five times seven."

"Um." Ellie thought for a moment before blurting out, "Thirty-five!"

"Me too, Daddy! Me! Me!" Zoey always hated being left out.

"Okay, Miss Zoey, what's one times two?"

The toddler scrunched up her features. Remembering the way Ellie counted on her fingers, she did the same, then presented her open palms with all ten fingers up. "This many!"

Jed looked at her with adoration twinkling in his sapphire eyes and said, "That is absolutely correct! You know, I think I may have the smartest daughters of any man on the planet."

Upstairs, Lizzie poked her head around the corner wall before making her descent. Assuming her father was too distracted with her sisters to notice her face, she initially made little effort to hide evidence of her rebellion.

"Good morning."

"We were wondering when you were going to join us," Jed replied.

"Sorry, I got a late start." She turned from him to grab a bowl from the cupboard.

In that instant, he thought he had seen it, but he waited to be sure before tossing out the accusation. "Lizzie?"

"Hmm?"

"Breakfast is already on the table. I made you some eggs."

"I don't feel like eggs today. I want cereal"

When she began to nibble on her cereal at the counter, he continued. "Well, how about you join us at the table at least?"

Liz lowered her head in a vain attempt to hide her cheeks with the thick strands of her chestnut hair as she walked slowly to the table. "Okay."

It didn't hide anything but her discomfort. Now, he was sure. The red stripes that outlined her cheekbones were too obvious to miss, as was the dark blue eye shadow that escaped the bounds of her lids and stretched as far as her brows, and her natural coral lips that were covered with a harsh red gloss that did nothing to flatter her.

"Lizzie?"

"Lizzie is a little girl's name, Dad. I'm in high school now. I prefer Liz please."

"Elizabeth?" He called her name in a firmer tone this time.

"What?" she snapped.

"Did you fall face-first into Zoey's container of finger paint?"

"That's not funny."

"Neither is the fact that you're wearing make-up when you know you're not allowed to."

"All girls my age wear make-up! It's just for today. Please."

"Why today?" Jed tried to be reasonable about it.

"Just because," Liz answered, intentionally avoiding his glare.

"I'm no expert at putting on cosmetics, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to have red streaks across your face. The rule in this house is when you're 15, your mother will teach you the proper way to put on make-up. You know that."

"Dad! It's really important to me. Please?"

He could have easily fallen for the sweet plea she directed at him, but he stayed strong. "Go upstairs and wash it off."

"Don't I have any say at all in what goes on around here?"

"Yes, you have a say. You even have a choice in the matter. You can go upstairs and wash it off right now and we won't say another word about it..."

"Or?"

"Or you can wait until your mother gets home and sees you. Keep in mind she's been working all night and she's bound to be tired, so I don't think she'll have much patience."

"She doesn't get off work until after I leave for school." Sure of herself, Liz gave him a confident smile.

Jed returned the expression as he informed her of the truth. "She got off early. She should be home any minute now."

That wiped the smirk right off Lizzie's face. Her eyes smoldering with frustration, she locked into her father's stare for several seconds before shouting on her way upstairs, "I hate that I have absolutely NO rights whatsoever in this house!"

And so began another day at the Bartlets. It was late summer 1982, three days before the start of autumn. Between Ellie's soccer games, Lizzie's preparations for basketball try-outs, and Jed's primary, it had been a hectic few weeks. Both girls were adjusting well to the new school year, though Liz had discovered new ways to challenge her parents, Ellie was already dreading an oral book report due in October, and Zoey's daily frustration revolved around mastering the art of untying her shoe laces.

On days like these, it was Jed's job to get the girls off to class and later, it would be Abbey's job to pick them up. Everyone tried to reunite around dinnertime, but Abbey's long on-call hours, school activities, and Jed's often-congested commute from Hanover sometimes interfered. And even worse, some evenings, fate had other plans.

"Anyone home?" Jed called out when he arrived home just after five.

"I'm here!" Lizzie yelled back as she bounded down the stairs.

"Hey! You don't even have to tell me. That smile tells me all I need to know. You made the team!"

She hesitated slightly. "Well, yeah."

"I am SO proud of you, Lizzie! Ninth grade, new school, you're competing against kids so much older than you and you made it! So what position did you get? Point guard? Forward? Center?" He extended his hand to high-five her.

"Top of the pyramid!" she said, slapping her hand to his.

Confused, Jed narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his forehead. "What?"

"I made the cheerleading squad!"

"What? You were trying out for basketball. How in the world did you make cheerleader?"

"I decided I'd rather be a cheerleader than a basketball player. But I'm still in ninth grade and new to the school and I still competed against girls a lot older than I am. And I made it! Isn't it great?"

It's not that he wasn't proud. It's that he was simply surprised. "It's great, but Lizzie, you never showed an interest in cheerleading."

"Yeah, but my friend Kimberly wanted to try out and she talked me into it! I've taken dance and gymnastics. It's a lot like that. I think I'm really going to like it."

"Why didn't you tell me before you left here today that that's what you were doing?"

"I figured you'd be mad."

"I wouldn't be mad about that if it's what you really wanted to do. At the very least, I would have been prepared for when you came home today and announced you'd be at the top of the pyramid. And, by the way, exactly how safe is something like that? I'm not sure I like the idea of it."

"It's safe, Dad."

"We'll see about that. Have you told your mother this?"

"I told her as soon as I got home and she said if it's what I want, then she's happy I made it."

"We'll see about that too. I bet you sugar-coated the whole thing. No way would she think it was safe for her little girl to be hoisted into the air like a rocket."

"It's not that bad. Just come to one of our practices."

"Oh, don't worry. I plan to be at every practice."

"Oh no." She rolled her eyes.

"And if one of those girls teeters even a little bit, I'm gonna run out there to catch you."

"You're joking."

"Only partly. Look, my job is to keep you safe and I'm still not convinced..." He trailed off when the door opened with such force that it jolted both him and Liz.

"I HATE math and I'm never going to school EVER AGAIN!" Ellie shouted on her way to the sofa to join her sister.

"Um, Ellie?" Jed began.

"Don't bother," Abbey warned him, walking in with Zoey in tow. "You can't reason with her. She's too upset."

"What happened?"

"Her teacher was so happy with her progress on the multiplication exercises, she gave her and one of the boys in her class a worksheet to do on the six tables, then had them exchange papers to grade each others work. Ellie missed quite a few."

"And Joshua made fun of me! And he told everyone at recess too!"

Jed turned to his wife, his face red with anger. "Who is this kid? Do we know his parents?"

"I've been trying to handle it a different way." Abbey sat down between Ellie and Liz and wrapped an arm around her middle daughter. "I think it's wonderful that Ellie is so far ahead of the rest of the class that it really doesn't matter if she doesn't know her sixes yet. That's what her mom and dad are here for. We're going to work with you, Sweetheart, until you know them all."

"I'll help too if you want, El," Liz offered.

"I don't wanna go back. I just wanna stay home from now on."

"Well, I don't think that's going to happen, Kiddo," Jed replied. "But your mom's right. We are going to make sure you know your sixes by tomorrow and by next week, we'll get to work on the sevens. And, we're also going to make sure this boy never bothers you again."

As the pep talk continued, Abbey rushed to answer the ringing phone. "Hello?" After a few seconds, she pulled the receiver down from her mouth to address Jed. "It's your brother."

"Uncle Jack?" Liz leapt to her feet. "I wanna talk to him!"

"Maybe you can explain to him how come you let me pay a fortune for you to go to basketball camp last month when you had no intention of trying out for the team." Jed's response was laced with sarcasm.

"See? I knew you'd be mad!"

"I'm not mad. I just think it was dishonest. You had all summer to break this news."

"Dad, here's the 4-1-1. I didn't make the decision to go out for cheerleading until last week."

"Here's the 4-1-1? Who talks like that?"

"Dad!"

"Lizzie, you should have told me. You've been walking around here pretending you wanted to be on the basketball team. I just don't understand why you didn't tell me. And anyway, didn't they give you some kind of permission slip for your parents to sign before you tried out for cheerleading?"

"You signed it."

"I did no such thing!"

"It's a generic winter activities permission slip. Since you signed it for basketball, it covers cheerleading too."

"Would you two please knock it off?" Abbey pleaded, lowering the phone to her shoulder. "Lizzie, do me a favor, Sweetie, and get Ellie started on her homework."

"I'm not doing homework tonight." Ellie defiantly folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Yes, you are. Lizzie, please?"

"Yeah, okay, but I also want to talk to Uncle Jack."

"You will. Later. In the meantime, take Zoey with you as well."

Zoey? Zoey wasn't allowed to distract them during homework. Liz knew something was wrong and Abbey's serious expression only confirmed her suspicions. "What's wrong?"

"Please," Abbey repeated.

The teenager nodded as she ushered her younger sisters upstairs.

Sensing the urgency in his wife's voice, Jed approached her. "Abbey?"

Abbey kept the phone cradled in one hand and she reached out to Jed with the other. "Honey, it's about your father."

TBC 


	2. Chapter 2

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed was surprised to learn Lizzie tried out for cheerleading instead of basketball; Ellie was upset when her times tables gave her trouble; Jed's brother, Jack, called with news about their father

Summary: Jed has an emotional few minutes with his father; Abbey tries to comfort her husband

Author's Note: I'm not sure if I should give this a rating or not, so I'm just going to warn you that it might be sad!

Feedback is always appreciated!

Growing up, Jed Bartlet had experienced his share of loss. From the deaths of his grandparents - all four before he graduated college - to the deaths of two aunts and one uncle, he had become familiar with the process of grieving. Never more so than in the months he grieved for his mother. It had been nine years since he said goodbye to the woman who gave birth to him. To this day, he could still remember the raw ache that bruised his heart and more than anything, wanted to avoid feeling that that kind of hurt ever again.

But that wasn't going to be possible and from the second he arrived at the hospital, part of him knew it.

In an isolated section of the ICU wing, his father lay pale and motionless under a tangled web of machines that beeped every annoying second. John looked to be comfortably sleeping, oblivious to those gathered around him. His hair was gray, his wrinkles pronounced. He had never looked so old, so worn and tired.

He had a stroke, Jack said when he called from the airport. Jed and Abbey immediately rushed to Boston, hoping for the best, fearing the worst. The doctors gave him a poor prognosis. Twenty-four hours of a critical window may be cut short at any moment, they warned. Complications could plunge his battered body into a coma.

Or worse.

"I don't even recognize him." Jed looked to Abbey who was standing across the room. "Can I touch him? Will it hurt him? Will it interrupt the machines?"

"No, it won't hurt him or cause damage. Go ahead and touch him. It'll be okay."

He precariously took his father's hand as he sat down in the cushioned chair by his bed. "Hey, Dad. I'm here."

A pang of guilt hit Abbey for intruding on this intimate moment. She stared at her husband for a minute longer, then asked, "Do you want some privacy?"

Jed shook his head. "It's fine. It's not like I'm gonna break down or anything."

"Okay." Unconvinced, she walked behind him and put a supporting hand on his shoulder while Jed continued to talk to John.

"So Jack's on his way. He's catching the first flight out of Cincinnati, but they've got some pretty terrible storms out there so it might take a while. I'll keep you company in the meantime."

It confused him that John didn't think to call him. He was only forty minutes away. Why Jack? Why would John have called the son who lived in Ohio? Before he vocalized that question, he stomped it down. It could wait for later, he convinced himself. Right now, his thoughts should rest solely with his father's health.

He dropped John's hand and stood up, walking in circles until Abbey quizzed him. "What is it?"

"I don't know what to say to him. He's just lying there looking helpless and I don't know what to say to make it better."

"You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to."

"I DO want to, that's the problem. It's just nothing seems good enough. Am I supposed to talk about my feelings? Am I supposed to tell him a story? A joke? What am I supposed to do to bring him out of this?"

"Jed."

"Don't. I know you're going to tell me that nothing I say will magically bring him out, but stroke victims survive. Many of them, worse off than he is, survive. There is something I can say. I know there is. I just haven't figured out what yet."

"I was just going to say that I would tell him the story you told me on the way over."

"He won't want to hear that."

"Sure he would."

"I don't know."

"Trust me."

He sighed then as he asked for reassurance. "You really think so?"

"Yeah." She sat beside him this time and when he touched John's hand, Abbey touched his.

"I'm not exactly sure if you want to know this, Dad, but Abbey says I should tell you and over the years, I've learned she's usually right about these things. If she's not, at least you know she's the one to blame, not me." The corners of his lips curved into a smile when he locked eyes with his wife. "Ever since Mom died, I've had dreams about her. Many times, she just appears to be there...at family functions, holiday get-togethers, things like that. But a few months ago, when you were sick and you and I were finally getting along, I had this dream where she came to me. Even in the dream, I was sleeping, but I could see what was happening. It was kind of creepy, actually. But anyway...I remember her standing above me, telling me she was glad that you and I made peace. That's all she wanted for her men - peace. And when I woke up, I could have sworn I smelled her perfume...you know the one she used to wear all the time? You said it always made her smell like a mixture of lilacs and roses. The scent only lasted a second and I was convinced I was imagining it, but...well, maybe I wasn't. I don't believe in that kind of stuff. But, for some reason, that dream gave me some comfort. It was nice imagining her up there, smiling proudly at us." He adjusted his grip on John's hand, weaving the older man's fingers into his. "The only problem is, I'm not as convinced as she was. I don't know if we made peace because we've never gotten through a whole year without some kind of fight. And then it was another five years of not speaking until the whole cycle started over again."

Abbey grew concerned when he stopped suddenly. "Jed?"

"I'm saying it in the past tense. Like it's not going to happen again. I don't know what's wrong with me." Jed relaxed his hold and continued. "I need you to wake up, Dad, because I want to end that cycle. I think we can, if we try. I don't know if you know this about me, but I don't like doubts. I hate having to guess..."

John's eyes fluttered slightly. His fingers twitched. He wanted so badly to clear his vision, but blinking away the cobwebs that clouded his sight was too much effort for the frail man. He wanted to speak. He wanted to say something, anything, to his son because deep in his heart, he felt what was happening. He fought for every second, every beat of his pulse that still held promise that he could offer words of solace before leaving his loved ones forever.

As Abbey ran to get a doctor and Jed urged his father to wake up, the machines flatlined, provoking a crowd of chaos that pushed Jed to the corner and forced Abbey to lead him out. He resisted despite her verbal and physical cajoling. His eyes widening in fear, he simply refused to leave.

"I'm not going anywhere," he repeatedly told her. "He's trying to communicate with me. Talking to him worked. I can't abandon him now!"

"Jed, please! You're not doing him or yourself any good!" Abbey begged him. From the deepest part of her being, she begged him. "We have to let the doctors do their job."

"I can't leave him." His mumbling words didn't stop her. She grabbed his upper arm with all her might and pulled him outside the room.

He surrendered. Probably out of shock, she assumed. But it didn't matter why. Protecting him from the emotional trauma of seeing his father in this condition was her only motivation at this point.

His ragged breaths frightened her. She held on to his hands, squeezing his palms when he tried to turn from her and peek inside. He was forced to face her instead. Looking her squarely in the eye while they waited, Jed then bore his soul through the tears that soaked his long dark lashes.

Unable to concentrate on anything but her, he said, "Tell me he's not going to die."

She wanted to wrap her arms around the man she loved and assure him everything would be okay. But that wasn't an option. She took the deepest breath of her life, then replied, "I wish I could."

"You can. You can. Please tell me. There's so much more I want to say to him. There's so much I need to hear from him. I just need a little longer. Tell me he isn't dying." His desperation came out in every syllable of his plea.

"I wish..."

The hitch in her voice gave him an opportunity to interrupt. "Don't wish. Just do it."

"Jed."

"Better yet, help him. You're a doctor, Abbey. You save people all the time. I've seen you do it. If you can't be sure he's going to survive, then help him. Go in there and help them save him. Please."

"Oh, Honey." The stunning request tugged at her heart. Her stomach turned when she thought about what she was about to say. "I can't."

"Yes, you can. Fix it. Put aside your feelings about him and just do it. Do it for me. Please."

A lump in the back of Abbey's throat nearly hushed her. But she fought past it, clinging to his hands tighter than she had ever before. "Listen to me. I don't even work at this hospital. We have to let the other doctors do their job. There's nothing I can do for him."

"Stop saying that!" he snapped at her as he lifted his arms to disconnect their fingers. "You're an MD! You went to medical school! Don't tell me there's nothing you can do! You can fix it. You can make him better. You're an amazing doctor. You can do anything you set your mind to."

"Jed, I'd give anything to be able to do this for you. But this...what's happening to him right now...it's beyond my control."

He calmed himself slightly. The tears she could see in his eyes weren't trailing down his cheeks. He blinked back each and every one before they dared to emerge from those twinkling baby blues. "Then just tell me he isn't gonna die. Not yet. Not today."

Biting down on her lower lip, she dropped her gaze to the floor, her head shaking in response. "It's too soon for anyone to know that."

She had just taken away the glimmer of hope he had left and with it's absence, a stabbing pain ripped through her body, causing her arms to tremble. She reached out to him, then withdrew when he ignored the gesture and began to pace the linoleum floor.

"I should be in there." Jed looked to the door that was closed to his intruding stare. Not even a small window gave him a peek.

"You'd only get in the way. His doctor will be out here to talk to us as soon as possible."

"All these months, it was his heart I was worried about. I never thought to ask about the condition of the arteries to his brain."

"It all stems from the same thing. The stent he had put in didn't cure him of the underlying problem. Atherosclerosis isn't uncommon..."

"Abbey, please save the medical jargon, okay? I can't deal with trying to decipher it today. I just want someone to tell me he's going to get through this. And no one - not ONE person - can do that!"

He turned towards her once more. This time, he was overcome by the misery he could see written all over her petite frame. Her right hand was resting against her mouth, her fingers curling along her lips while a single teardrop left a track of mascara in its path. Such anguish, all because she knew there was nothing she could do to rid him of his pain. Without a second thought, he opened his arms to her, sheltering her with the comforting embrace only he could offer.

"I don't know if he's going to make it," she said softly, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "You have no idea what I'd sacrifice to tell you want you want to hear."

"It's okay. He'll make it. He's strong. And he knows...he knows I need him with me a little longer. Just a little longer. I know you hate him, but..."

"Shhh. Let's not talk about that right now." Her hands gathered securely around his neck, Jed dipped his head along the side of her neck as Abbey held him closer. They shifted a little and it was clear to both of them that now, she was the one comforting him.

John Bartlet lost his fight that day. It didn't take very long for doctors to declare a time of death and then exit the room to notify Jed. He absorbed the news while still clutching Abbey. His arm crisscrossed hers, following a trail across her back and hugging the groove at her waist. Abbey snuggled into his chest so her body could stabilize his in case he lost his balance or swayed from the grief. But he didn't. He stood stoically, not a smidgen of emotion escaping his tough facade. Even the tears that had been there seconds earlier were evaporating without replacement.

Jed had said many times that his father didn't like him. When he was alone, he prayed that deep down, that was all a sham, a misunderstanding born from a lifetime of rippling outbursts. But even if it was true, it wouldn't have mattered today. Regardless of their tumultuous relationship, Jed would have moved mountains to give the man who gave him life one more day to live his.

John's last few minutes on Earth haunted him all the way home. He wasn't at peace. Not the way Jed thought he was, not the way Jed had hoped. He was struggling as he teetered on the brink of death. The fluttering eyes, the quivering hand - these were things Jed would never forget. They were memories now, etched in his mind forever.

Abbey drove up the long, gravel driveway that led to the farmhouse. She stopped the car and hopped out of the driver's seat to help Jed, but by the time she made it to his side, he was already up. A tad shaky, yet silent, he took the hand she offered and the two walked side-by-side through the front door.

After saying goodbye to the neighbor who came to sit with the girls, Abbey sat beside Jed on the sofa. "You haven't said anything since we left the hospital."

"There's nothing to talk about," he replied quietly. "Did Anita say the girls are in bed?"

"Yeah. It's pretty late."

"How late?"

She glanced at her watch. "Eleven."

"We were gone that long?" He had lost track of time. Abbey didn't bother reminding him they spent three hours walking around the hospital before Jed was finally ready to say goodbye.

"I guess we were," she said.

"How long have they been asleep? We didn't tuck them in. Zoey can't sleep without a story. Ellie likes to read to us every night. And Lizzie...I'd love a goodnight kiss from Lizzie tonight."

"They went to bed a while ago, Honey. We should let them sleep. We'll have to tell them what happened tomorrow."

"What about Ellie's multiplication tables? You and I were supposed to help her with her sixes."

"It's not like she'll be going to school tomorrow."

"Great. We're three weeks into the school year and already they're going to be missing days."

"It's unavoidable. Ellie, especially, isn't going to want to go school when she finds out. Besides, I'll call their teachers and get their homework assignments. We won't let them fall behind."

"Did they eat dinner?"

"I made dinner before I went to pick up Ellie this afternoon. When I called from the hospital, Anita said they ate most of it, except, of course, the vegetables. She put the leftovers in the fridge." Abbey caressed his thigh. "I'll go warm you up a plate. I bet you haven't eaten since lunch."

"I'm not hungry."

She stood up anyway. "Then maybe just some soup or something."

"Nothing," he insisted. "I'm not hungry."

"Can I get you anything at all? Water?"

"No."

"Okay."

She walked behind him, her hand sitting on his shoulder until she positioned herself just right to loosen up the muscles in his upper back. Jed knew what she was doing. Her fingers had worked their magic numerous times throughout their marriage. Usually, her touch was all it took to help relieve the tension and allow him to drift off to sleep.

That wasn't going to happen this time. Sleep wasn't even a possibility. Instead, he covered her fingers with his, then brought her palm to his lips, kissing it tenderly.

"Just sit with me," he asked her. Once she reclaimed her seat, he propped his legs up on the cushion and pulled her back against his frame so she was reclining over him. "Tonight, just let me hold you. That's all I really want."

Their limbs tangled around each other, they remained like that all night. No words were spoken between them. Only the sound of their breathing filled the air until morning.

TBC 


	3. Chapter 3

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed and Abbey were at John's bedside when he passed away; a woman from Jed's past prepared to go to John's funeral (chapter 1); Jed was surprised to learn Lizzie tried out for cheerleading instead of basketball (chapter 1)

Summary: Jed introduces Abbey to an old friend; Leo tries to reach out to Jed; Jed admits why he's angry at John

AN: This is just my take on how the Jed/John relationship became what it is on TWW. I promise I'll stop torturing him soon and we'll get on to the happier part of this story!

Feedback is always appreciated!

The blonde woman slipped into her shoes and spun around to look in the mirror. Her pearls were clasped around her neck, every glowing gem perfectly lined as the strand dipped over the top of her black dress. She ran her fingers through her hair, adjusted her hem, and left the bedroom. Her keys sat next to the morning paper and when she found them, her eyes glazed over the photographs of state candidates, sparking a flood of memories that instantly washed over her.

There was that young man she had met all those years ago. He was in high school back then, an outstanding student, popular among his peers and adored by the teachers. He was outspoken, articulate, a natural-born leader who once rallied for equal pay among school employees.

She remembered how disappointed she was when she thought he had abandoned that cause. What she later learned was that even though Jed initially surrendered to his father's authority, he eventually fought on behalf of the women who worked at his school. It was a bittersweet victory for her. She was thrilled that someone took an interest in her plight, yet she was equally concerned about the consequences.

John Barltet was a complicated person. That was something she already knew. But she'd never forget the day she saw the true differences between father and son. The old shrill man shouted at Jed for going behind his back and organizing his friends to rally around the female employees.

"You made me look like a fool!" he screamed. "And that's exactly what you wanted, isn't it?"

"That wasn't what I wanted. I tried to talk to you about it before I did it, but you wouldn't listen. You never listen."

Jed's statement was met with a hard slap to his face. She considered slamming the door open and saving him from the confrontation, but before she did, Jed furiously left his father's office and gasped when he saw her standing just outside. She never told him she heard the heated words or the sound of a smack that jolted her. She assumed he didn't want to hear it because after their eyes locked, he lowered his head, covered his bruised cheek, and ran towards his car.

It was the last time she had seen Jed in person. She moved to Baltimore that summer and though they kept in touch through letters when he went off to college, neither of them mentioned that day ever again.

Sighing as she closed her eyes, she snapped herself back to the present, folding the paper once again and stuffing it into her purse before she left for the funeral.

There was a break in the crowd of mourners when Jed finally saw her. His sullen expression changed only slightly as he pointed her out to the woman he was with. Dark auburn hair that glowed like a fiery halo in the sun, a face just as pretty as Jed described, and a tight grip on his hand. It had to be Abbey, she deduced. Jed whispered something to her, then left her side to greet his friend.

"Jed." She leaned in to hug him.

"You look just like I remember. I'm glad you could make it."

"So am I."

"Jed?" Abbey approached, eager to meet the woman she had heard so much about.

"Oh, Mrs. Landingham, this is my wife, Abbey. Abbey, this is Delores Landingham."

Abbey extended her hand to Delores. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too. You have no idea how much Jed talked about you in his letters. All these years, I couldn't wait to meet the woman who stole his heart. I'm just sorry it has to be under these circumstances." She was sorry. Not for John. That jerk wasn't deserving of her sympathy, as far as she was concerned. Today, her loyalty was reserved for Jed. She turned to him and asked, "How are you holding up?"

"I'm getting through it," he answered, then ushered her away in an effort to change the subject. "Let me introduce you to my daughters."

The funeral was small one, attended by old friends of the family and a few relatives who were able to make it. Jed's brother, Jack, delivered the eulogy and afterwards, Jed read a special passage by Roman Philosopher, Lucretius. 

Once the service was over, many of the mourners accompanied the family to the cemetery to pray as John's coffin was lowered into the ground. Jed stood perfectly still. Not even a blink of his eye could provoke any kind of emotion.

"...earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. They rest from their labors and their works follow them."

His lips moved with the minister's prayer, but he said it so quietly not even Abbey could hear him. She wondered about the memories that were monopolizing his thoughts at that very second. Perhaps they the were good ones, the few happy moments he shared with John in the months before his death. But that was wishful thinking and she knew it.

Standing to his right, Abbey stared at him for a moment, then exchanged a glance with Liz who took her place on his left side. She squeezed her husband's hand in hers, lacing her fingertips through his, then she smiled at her oldest daughter when she followed her lead and did the same.

The girls had dealt with their grandfather's death in extremely different ways. Zoey was too young to understand what was happening. Elizabeth retreated inside herself, not a tear to be shed for the loss. But Ellie...Ellie cried. Since the morning Abbey sat her down and told her, she had cried at least once every single day, almost always in private. Frequently over the past week, she turned to Jed, excited to hear stories about her grandfather. Jed showered her with anecdotes, most of them edited to suit her young ears. He left out the bad memories from his childhood and only shared the tales that made his little girl smile.

Amazing as it seemed to Abbey, it was important to him that people remember John for the man they thought he was, rather than the man he knew him to be. He was dead now and any attempt to assault his character was out of line, according to Jed. It was just another way he preserved the loyalty that kept him shackled to his father.

The burden of protecting John's reputation certainly took its toll, especially those first few nights. Like Elizabeth, he hadn't yet released his emotions. Torn between anger and anguish, he had locked away his grief and gone on with life as if it was just a bump in the road. But people knew better, especially the people who knew him best.

That night, as everyone gathered at the Bartlet farm, Jed stood out on the front deck. He took in the cool September air and enjoyed his moment of privacy. At least, at first.

"So this is where you disappeared off to."

He spun around to see Leo standing behind him. "I just needed a minute. Did Abbey send you out here to get me?"

"No. I came to tell you that Jenny called. She wanted me to apologize again for her absence. She just couldn't take Mallory out of school right now."

"I know."

Leo joined him by the railing. The two men looked out over the pasture. "It's a little chilly out here."

"Really? I was just thinking what a beautiful night it is," Jed replied.

"You always did love the cold. You and Jenny. You're both weird like that."

"How are you and Jenny doing anyway?"

He smiled. "Good. Very good. Feels like old times."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." For the first time in a long time, Leo's eyes were lit with sincerity. Neither had approached the subject of his drinking during this visit, but according to what Jenny told Abbey, the program in Europe was a success. Leo was celebrating 80 days of sobriety.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Really."

"Jed." Jed recognized that tone. He grabbed the railing with both hands and turned away from his friend. It didn't stop Leo. "I know you and I don't usually talk about these kinds of things, but..." He paused for a beat, then continued. "I buried my father too, so..."

Jed nodded and said, "Yeah."

"If there's anything..."

"Thanks, Leo." The gesture meant a lot to him. He wanted to open up to his oldest friend, especially since he knew the haunting stories of Leo's childhood, but he couldn't quite trust himself to unleash his raw feelings. Not yet.

"Abbey didn't send me out here, but she is looking for you. Should I tell her?"

"Yeah."

As Leo disappeared behind the front door, Jed turned his attention to the navy sky. Twinkling with stars, it was clear of any clouds. The moon shined bright that night, brighter than he had seen it in days. A gentle breeze swept across the field and just as he inhaled the crisp air, a pair of arms snuck in from behind and curled up against his chest.

"Hi," Abbey greeted him, her chin brushing up on his shoulder.

"Hey." He covered her hands with his own.

"Mrs. Landingham's been telling me a great deal about your father. I never knew he was so widely respected in the community."

"He was a headmaster. Everyone who didn't know him very well, liked him."

"So I see. She doesn't seem to like him very much...Mrs. Landingham. She hasn't actually said anything, but it's just a feeling I'm getting."

Jed slipped out of her arms and turned to face her. "Maybe she saw through him."

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you out here? Why haven't you said a word to your brother all day? He's been asking about you."

"He knows where I am."

"Jed." She lifted his chin to prevent him from avoiding her stare.

"What, Abbey?"

This was familiar territory. Jed had shut down after his mother's death and it took days of prodding to help him through it. "If you want to talk..."

"I don't," he said as he gently pulled her hand down from his face. "Not about this. What we can talk about is Lizzie."

"Lizzie? What about her?"

"She's been avoiding me. Do you know why?"

"She's been avoiding everyone. That's just how she is. It reminds me a little of you."

"It's not the same. I think she's mad at me."

"At you? Why on Earth would she be mad at you? She's concerned about you. Why would you think it's anything more than that?"

"Because every time I've tried to talk to her in the past week, she's ignored me."

"She's 14, Jed. Her grandfather just died and she needs time to deal with it, just like the rest of us. Besides, if you think she's avoiding you, maybe it's because she thinks you're mad at her."

"For what?"

"Cheerleading."

Jed rolled his eyes as he sputtered. "Cheerleading," he repeated. "I'm not mad at her, but will you agree that it was dishonest what she did? She could have easily come to us and told us she didn't want to play basketball anymore."

"Maybe she thought you'd be disappointed."

"Not as disappointed as I was when I realized she kept me in the dark about it. All I want is for her to be honest about these things. I want her to feel like she can tell us anything, whether it's about cheerleading or..."

"Or what?"

"Nothing." Though he had never expressed his suspicions, it occurred to him that Lizzie knew more about his troubles with John than she had previously admitted. Several times over the past week, he thought back to the night Liz heard them arguing, wondering if perhaps that was the night that changed Liz's perspective, if that was the turning point in her relationship with John.

"Jed? Or what?"

"Is she upset?"

"About John being dead? Of course she is."

"I don't blame her if she isn't. I just want to know."

"You know she is." Abbey's eyes narrowed into tiny slits, beaming with curiosity. "Where is this coming from?"

"He manipulated her when she was little. I should have written him off for good right then and there. I should have never let it happen in the first place."

"Don't do that. Don't blame yourself. We tried to keep Liz away from him. We did everything we could. He convinced her to lie to us and she was just a little girl. She didn't know any better."

"If I had just cut him out of my life back then..." He paced the wooden deck, then collapsed on the double swing.

"Then what? How do you think that would have changed things?" He didn't reply. Her back leaning against the railing, Abbey folded her arms in front of her. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't think John meant to hurt Lizzie back then. I think he genuinely loved her and wanted to get to know her. And I don't believe for a second that you don't agree with me. If you thought he was out to hurt Liz, you'd have killed him yourself a long time ago."

"He used her to get to me. That's what he did. Who would do something like that?"

After months of making excuses for John, Jed was filled with resentment. His sudden change of heart confused Abbey. "What is it you're not saying, Jed?"

"What do you mean?"

"You kept John away from this family for six years after the incident with Liz. And when you did let him back in, you were very cautious. We both were. So why are you regretting that decision now? What's happened since his death that's made you angry all over again?"

"I'm just reflecting on his life."

"Why?"

"Abbey."

Abbey walked over to him, lowering herself to the ground when she reached the edge of the swing. She kneeled in front of him and eased her hands onto his knees. She placed her chin on top. "What is it? Why are you so bitter today? Why didn't you want to give a eulogy for John?"

"He wouldn't have wanted me to."

"How do you know?"

She was the only one he could tell this to, the only person who would understand. He looked her squarely in the eye and admitted softly, "He didn't call me."

"What?"

"When he was sick. He hadn't been feeling well for days. He knew he had to call an ambulance and while he waited, he called Jack. I was forty minutes away." Jed shrugged. "But he didn't call me."

"Honey, he was having a stroke. Chances are, he wasn't thinking clearly."

"I don't know about that. Understand this isn't about ego or about feeling left out. I was the one who was there for him all summer, I was the one who took care of him when he was released from the hospital, and the one who drove him back and forth to doctor's appointments."

"Yes, you were."

"It's not like he owes me or anything. It's just that they say that people know when they're dying. I think my father knew that something was terribly wrong because when he called Jack...Jack told me when he called, he was confused and disoriented. But he did tell Jack he loved him. He called his other son to say goodbye and, I mean, it's not a big deal, but I just wonder, why he didn't feel he could also call me."

"Jed." She lifted herself up beside him and wrapped him in a hug so tight that Jed's face sank into her shoulder.

Even if Abbey could erase everything else from her memory, watching Jed in such agony affirmed her hatred for John. The first time she met him, she was tricked by his charming demeanor to the point that she actually suggested Jed try harder to get along with him. Once she saw the true John Bartlet, she apologized for the suggestion and since then, she waited for the day she and Jed could live in peace.

She never wished him dead, but she anticipated a time when they could finally throw him out of their lives. Now that fate had taken him away, she would have given anything for five more minutes so that she could summon her strength and try to repair the relationship that caused her husband so much pain.

But she couldn't. No one could run interference now. Jed would have to accept the unanswered questions surrounding John's death and, somehow, deal with the sour feelings that were left in his heart.

TBC 


	4. Chapter 4

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed introduced Abbey to Mrs. Landingham during John's funeral; Leo tried to reach out to Jed; Jed admitted to Abbey he was hurt by John's final actions before his death; Lizzie overheard an argument between Jed and John (chapter 13 of "On My Honor")

Summary: Jed and Liz clear the air; Jed tries to win a bet with his daughter, then recruits Abbey to learn Liz's dance steps; Jed and Abbey are stunned by an early morning phone call

Feedback is always appreciated!

"Why?"

That dreaded question lingered in the air with no response for two full minutes as Elizabeth rounded the corner upstairs and walked into her bedroom. "Just because."

Ellie followed closely behind, a white leather-bound scrapbook that Abbey had bought for her birthday clutched to her chest. "Because why?"

"Ellie."

"Why don't you want to help me make a collage of Grandpa Bartlet?"

"I just don't feel like it!"

"You never want to help me do anything anymore."

"That's not true."

"Uh huh! Yesterday, you wouldn't help me find pictures of Zoey to cut and paste in my book and today, you won't help me make a collage of Grandpa for Daddy."

"Scrapbooking just isn't my thing, okay?" Ellie lowered her head sadly, a gesture that always touched big sister Liz. "Fine, maybe later I'll go through Zoey's baby book with you. But I really don't want to help with Grandpa."

"Why not?"

"Ellie, you already won. Don't press your luck."

"But I can't do it by myself," she pleaded. "And it's a surprise for Daddy."

"Why don't we get him another surprise?"

"No, Lizzie, I want this one! I want to make it for the whole family so that none of us ever forget about Grandpa. Why don't you want to help?"

"Because he's a jerk, Ellie, and I'd like to forget about him! That's why!"

Ellie stood silent, stunned by her sister's sudden outburst. She had never heard Liz so bitter and resentful. She certainly couldn't understand it now, only three weeks after the death of their grandfather. Her lips quivered as if she was about to say something, but she swallowed past that urge. With twitching brows and a bit of incredulous confusion glittering in her blue-green eyes, she came face-to-face with Jed and Abbey in the open doorway as she turned on her heels to leave.

Ellie let out an exasperated breath, then walked briskly between her parents, heading straight down the hallway to her own room. Abbey trailed behind. Liz briefly locked into Jed's stare before she returned her attention to the clothes she was folding.

"Sorry," the teenager said quietly. "I didn't mean that."

Jed stuffed his hands in his pocket as he crossed in front of her to sit on her bed. "Sit down." He patted the mattress. She took a seat beside him, nervously anticipating a lecture. "We haven't really talked much since the funeral."

Liz looked to the floor. "Mmmm hmmm."

"Lizzie..."

"Dad, really, call me Liz." She didn't really mind the nickname, but she was desperate to change the subject. "Most people outgrow the name Lizzie by age 10. Liz sounds so much better, especially for someone in high..."

"Liz," Jed interrupted. "I'll call you what you want, but I didn't come up here to talk about that."

"I said I was sorry. I didn't mean what I said."

"I don't believe that. Besides, I'm not looking for you to take it back. If you really do feel the way you said you feel about your grandfather, I'm not going to be upset with you. You don't have to lie or apologize for it."

"I don't? I figured you'd say I have to respect him."

"Not exactly. Special circumstances here. You already know that you should never be anything less than civil and respectful, especially to your elders, but I also think you need to be true to yourself. He's your grandfather. You two have a history and you have a right to make up your own mind about him."

"Then it's okay with you if I don't feel about him the way you do?"

He could see her apprehension. "You really do think he was a jerk." It wasn't a question.

"Not always," she offered in an attempt to soften the blow.

"You felt that way lately."

Liz rubbed her hands together as she contemplated her answer before responding. "Yeah."

"Feels better to admit it, doesn't it?"

"A little. I didn't want you to be mad."

"I'm not. I do wish you had tailored your words a little more for Ellie's benefit. But Ellie's not here now. You're with me. No sugar-coating. I want you to be honest. He..." Jed shifted uncomfortably. "Did he ever...was he ever mean to you? I know your mom and I were around all the time, but was there ever a time when he was with you that he said something or did something that made you angry?"

"No. He was always nice to me."

That was a relief. At least John had never treated her poorly. Just as he assumed, Liz's hostility was the result of one incident. "Last year when he and I were arguing over Ellie's scout badge, you overheard us. I never really talked to you about it because I didn't want to approach a conversation I wasn't ready to have. But I was wrong."

"Dad, I already told you what I heard that night."

"Yeah, you did. Now I want the truth." Jed rose to his feet as soon as Liz did. "And before you even think it, your mother didn't tell me anything."

"How did you know she and I talked about it?"

"Because she doesn't let things like this go quite as easily as I do."

"You don't really let them go either," she countered. "You just keep them to yourself."

"Sometimes."

"Why do we have to do this?"

Jed took her hand and led her to the oak chair in front of her homework desk. When she sat down, he reclaimed his seat on the corner of her mattress. "We don't. You don't have to tell me any details, but I just want you to know that even though your grandfather and I had a rocky relationship, he loved you very much."

"You said I can make up my own mind about him. Now you're telling me how much he loved me. Are you trying to get me to love him too?" The words came out sharper than she intended.

Jed paused to shake off her tone, then replied, "No. Of course I'm not. The only reason I'm telling you this is because I think you should know. Over the years, I tried to push him out of our lives and he kept coming back because he wanted a relationship with you girls. In fact, we found out after he died that he left letters - one for you, one for Ellie, and one for Zoey. Your mom and I decided that we'd give them to you when you're a little older."

"Mom already told me and I told her I don't want it. I don't want the letter and I don't want the trust fund he set up for us either."

"Sweetheart, I'm not going to lecture you on how you should deal with all this. Hell, I don't even know how to deal with it. I don't blame you for being angry. I don't. But it breaks my heart to see you consumed by these strong emotions."

"I'm fine, Dad."

"Famous last words."

"Why aren't you angry? He was so cruel. Why don't you hate him?"

Shrugging, Jed answered, "He's my dad. I know it's a poor excuse, but I it's the only one I've got. He said some pretty harsh things that night. I did too."

"Not as bad as him. And anyway, you never would have treated your kid the way he treated you. You never would have..." She stopped herself just short of confessing she knew about the physical confrontations between father and son.

"I never would have...what?"

"Nothing."

He didn't push her. Believing his little girl knew about the abuse he had endured was too much to handle at the moment. It was hard enough talking to Abbey about it. He wasn't ready to confront these demons with Liz. "Okay."

That was too easy, she thought, her suspicions now confirmed. Jed didn't want her to know, or at least, he didn't want to admit that she knew. She could live with that. With a deep breath, she replied, "Okay."

He regretted stopping her from revealing more, but he couldn't bring himself to go back. Instead, he moved on. "If there's ever anything you want to talk about...about that night...you can come to me. You know that."

"I know. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Was he ever different? Did you guys ever get along?"

Jed shook his head. "We never had the relationship I wanted us to have. We clashed on most things."

"Why?"

"I guess I wasn't what he envisioned in a son and he wasn't the kind of father I wanted him to be. It made for some uncomfortable nights around the dinnertable."

"I don't understand why he was like that."

"Lots of things play a role in who people become. Some of it is comes from their environment, but I think most of what shapes a person comes from their background. Their childhood. Your grandfather didn't have a great childhood."

"That's not an excuse because if it was, that would mean you would have turned out like he did. I'm so glad you didn't."

"You have no idea how much it means to me that you just said that. When your mom told me she was pregnant the first time, what I feared the most was that my kids would think of me the way I thought of my dad. That scared the hell out of me, Lizzie...sorry, Liz. Before we got married, we talked about how we would raise children. We discussed bedtime schedules, homework, discipline, everything, but when she got pregnant with you, I was still worried that one day, I would lose my temper or say something that would make you hate me forever."

"Why would you think that if you didn't hate your own father?"

Jed smiled at his daughter's reasoning. "Because maybe sometimes, I did hate my father," he admitted. "The truth is, occasionally, I did hate him. Most of the time, I think it was in retaliation because I felt like he really didn't care for me. It was just a defense mechanism to cope with things. That's why it's so important to me that you and your sisters know how much I love you."

"We know."

"And that you and I have an open relationship. I don't want you to ever be afraid to tell me anything, no matter what. If you're interested in some boy, I'd like you to feel like you can tell me. If you change your mind about a sport or a hobby, I want you to come to me."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and asked, "Are we back to basketball versus cheerleading again?"

"Smart girl."

"That was tricky." She stood up.

He followed her lead. "I'm still not clear on why I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader."

"Because I knew you wanted me to play basketball and I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Sweetheart, I only wanted you to play basketball because YOU told me you wanted to play basketball. You asked me to teach you years ago. You said you wanted to go to basketball camp the last two summers. All you did was talk about basketball."

"But then my friend Kimberly and I met some of the cheerleaders at school and they were so cool. They don't just cheer, Dad. They're dancers and they're so good! My school even competes with a couple of other schools to win best squad in the county! I really wanted to see if I could do it."

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"You're not going to make fun of me?"

"Why would I make fun of you?"

Liz tilted her head bashfully as she admitted, "Because some people make fun of cheerleaders. The basketball coach says it's not a real sport."

"Elizabeth, I don't care what the coach says. I would never make fun of you. If you want to be a cheerleader, then I think that's great. You shouldn't be embarrassed or afraid to tell anyone, especially me."

"So it's okay? I mean, you spent a lot of money on basketball camp and a lot of time out there helping me."

"I enjoy spending time with you. As for the money...well, you're my little girl and that's part of the deal. Besides, if you had hung around here for the two weeks you spent at camp, you probably would have sucked just as much money out of my pocket for trips to the mall."

"Probably." She laughed.

Jed playfully yanked her arm. "From now on, just keep me in the loop."

"Okay."

"I'll get out of your hair."

"Yeah, I have to practice."

"Oh, one last thing. You are my little girl, just like I said. You're getting older now and I'll call you Liz if that's what you want, but I think you should know you're always going to be Lizzie to me, just like you'll always be your mom's baby doll."

"I already know that. I guess I kinda like it. You guys don't have to stop calling me those things if you don't want."

"We don't?" That was an unexpected switch, but Jed was reminded of the teenage mentality. She could very well change her mind by morning.

"Just don't do it in front of my friends."

"I promise," he agreed. "Now, did you say something about practicing?"

"Yeah. I have to go over my dance steps."

"Would you mind some company?"

"You want to watch?"

"Sure. I used to watch you in dance class and gymnastics all the time. I watched you playing basketball. I love to watch Ellie play soccer. This just happens to be what's next. Maybe I'll even pick up a few things."

"Dad, this isn't like ballroom dancing. It's totally different. There's tumbling and back flips..."

"Your point? I can be just as big a supporter of this as I was of basketball. And I bet you your allowance, I can learn a few of these steps on the first try."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Let's move!"

The two jogged down the stairs and within minutes, Jed's interest had captured Abbey's attention as well. Together, the family convened in an open field behind the house. Liz blasted the volume on her portable radio, then took her place in front of her little sisters while Jed and Abbey watched proudly from the sidelines.

"Come on, Lizzie!" Ellie prodded, eagerly waiting to attempt the steps she had seen Liz practice over and over again.

"Okay, okay! But you're not standing right, El." Liz straightened the eight-year-old's arm and positioned her feet shoulder-width apart. "It's like this."

"I want Daddy!" Zoey whined.

"I'm right here, Sweetheart."

"Yeah, Dad, I thought you were going to join us," Liz reminded him.

"I'm going to watch first."

"That gives you an unfair advantage. You said you could learn the steps on your first try. If you don't do it, I win the bet!"

"Bet?" Abbey questioned.

"Dad bet me my allowance that he could pick up the dance right away. If he doesn't, I get double the money this week!"

Jed didn't have to turn his head to recognize the big smirk plastered across Abbey's face. "Not a word out of you."

"I didn't say anything," Abbey assured him.

"She put me on the spot."

"I'm sure she did, Pumpkin."

"Dad?" Liz pressured him again.

"It's not nice to squelch on a bet, Jed."

"I am so outnumbered in this house," he muttered under his breath as he took his place behind Liz. "All right. Let's do it."

"Okay, ready?" Liz moved slowly at first, her body swaying to the rhythm of the music as she counted.

It looked so effortless to a casual observer, but as Jed quickly learned, it wasn't. Ever since he mastered ballroom dancing lessons five years earlier, he loved to share a romantic waltz with Abbey. Usually, he was light on his feet, floating over the dancefloor with such grace that he frequently drew the admiration of strangers.

But on this, Lizzie was right. This was different and he was having a lot more trouble than he wanted to admit. 

He balled his hands into tight little fists, but when he tried to raise his arms into a V while stepping into a pivot, Abbey leaned back with a laugh so loud, it broke his concentration. "What's the matter with you?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that you're doing exactly the opposite of what she's saying. The turn comes after you raise your arms and there was nothing in her instructions about wiggling your hips." Despite her tweaking, her heart swelled with adoration for this man. The things he did to make his daughters happy strengthened her love for him.

"Must be nice to judge me from afar," he teased as he approached her, his hands extended to grab hers. "Your turn."

"I'll do the dancing, but once she starts showing off her tumbling, I'm out."

"Silly, Abbey. The tumbling's the fun part! Don't think I'm going to let you squirm your way out of that."

"No way, Jed. I'm not flexible enough to do it!"

"Believe me, Sweet Knees, you ARE flexible."

Abbey pulled back, resisting her husband's strength. "I haven't done this in years."

"Perfect! Lizzie, your mom needs extra assistance over here. She mentioned something about wanting to try those back flips you love so much."

"Oh, I can show you how, Mom!"

Elizabeth rushed right over, an air of excitement surrounding her. Abbey knew she couldn't disappoint her daughter, so she turned to her husband, clenched her teeth together, and warned, "Karma's a dangerous thing, Gumdrop."

"I'll take my chances." Jed stood back, chuckling as Lizzie grabbed Abbey's wrist to lead her into pretzel formation.

His eyes gazed at Ellie bending herself backwards the way Liz encouraged Abbey to do. Then, he looked to Zoey, whose effort ended in frustration when she lost her balance and fell on her rear. She whined for a moment, then rose to her feet to try it again. Abbey wasn't quite as ambitious. Each and every fall sounded harder than the one before and each and every time, it took more energy to stand. But she did it. Giggling along with the kids, she worked through the discomfort.

At least, at first.

Just as she bent at the waist and tried to push herself over one more time, her ankle twisted beneath her, causing her to stumble before crashing to the ground flat on her back.

"Mom!" Lizzie shouted as Jed sprinted to her side.

"Honey, are you okay?" He hooked his arm under her shoulder to help her up.

Abbey nodded hesitantly. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Jed questioned, picking the grass off her shirt. "That was a nasty fall."

"Really, I'm okay. But that doesn't mean I want to try it again."

"Oh, come on, Mom!"

"No, I really think she's done, Lizzie," Jed intervened.

"One more time, Mommy," Ellie begged. "You almost did it!"

If there was one thing Abbey couldn't resist, it was the sweet pleas she heard from her daughters. Reluctantly, she brushed herself off and assumed the position once again. She shot a few dangerous glances Jed's way for getting her into this mess in the first place, but it did nothing to squash his amusement. It didn't matter that she'd have some choice words for him when the day was over. The mood in the Bartlet house had been so somber the past few weeks that he was willing to risk her wrath for the pleasure of watching the interaction between his family.

That night, after the girls were tucked into bed, Jed massaged his wife's sore muscles until she drifted off to sleep. And early the next morning, when the alarm sounded and the first glimmer of sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains, he rolled her over to do it again. Straddling her thighs, his fingers stroked the tension that kept her twisted in knots.

"Forgive me yet?" he leaned down over Abbey's naked back to whisper into her ear.

"Not yet," she answered, barely awake and laying face-down on the bed.

"You have to admit, the girls had fun last night."

"You were the one who was supposed to learn Lizzie's routine."

"I did learn."

She twisted her head to look at him over her shoulder. "You were glued to one spot the whole time."

"And whose fault was that? None of this would have happened if you hadn't laughed at me."

"Yes, it would. As soon as Liz started the cartwheels, you would have excused yourself, just like I had planned to do."

"If God wanted us to walk on our hands, He wouldn't have given us feet. I plan to stand upright, just like He intended, if it's all the same to you."

"Chicken."

"Damn right." She tightened her grip on her pillow as he pushed down on her shoulders. He cringed when she gasped. "Sorry."

"I guess it's a blessing you recruited me to be the guinea pig."

"Oh?"

"Imagine if you had tried to do what the girls wanted. You would have been hurt worse than I was."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You already have a bad back, Jed, and you refuse to have it looked at."

"It's no big deal."

That didn't surprise her. He had dismissed Abbey's concerns about his back all summer. "Says you."

"I thought one of the perks of being married to a doctor was that I'd never have to make an appointment to see another doctor ever again." Jed stretched out beside her.

"It's not true. That's just what we say to get our spouses to stick by us through residency." She leaned over and stole a quick kiss before they each pulled away, startled by the ringing phone.

"It's not even six o'clock yet. Who in the world could that be?"

Abbey rolled to her side and reached for the receiver on the nightstand. "Hello?" Her brows furrowed slightly. "I'm sorry, where are you calling from?...Yeah, he's here...Hang on." She tucked the phone under her chin. "An Alfred Royen from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences?"

Confused, Jed took the phone from her. "Hello?"

For minutes, husband and wife stared straight into each other's eyes. Abbey struggled to read Jed's expression until Jed finally lowered the receiver between them, exposing her to the scratchy connection and the words that were clouded by static.

"Yeah, I'm here," Jed replied after a brief silence between the two men. "We seem to have a bad connection, so I'm not entirely sure I heard you right." Not yet willing to blindly believe the claim, he looked at Abbey and shrugged. "Okay...When can I expect the telegram?...Yeah. I'll do that...Okay. Thank you. Bye."

"I only caught bits and pieces." Abbey hung up the phone. "What exactly..."

"It's probably just a prank." With a sly grin, he quizzed her. "Did you set this up?"

"What?"

"Maybe you wanted to get back at me for last night." It was a lighthearted accusation. "Was this your doing?"

"Jed, I wouldn't play a joke like this," she insisted. "It wouldn't even occur to me."

Genuinely stumped by the possibility, he asked with little confidence, "You think it's for real?"

"Did he say what I thought I heard him say?"

"I'm pretty sure you heard what I heard."

"Jed!"

"Abbey, don't make a big deal out of this. The connection was terrible. Who knows what he actually said and who knows if it's even true."

"We're waiting for a telegram?"

"Yeah. And another phone call later today."

"From?"

"The Nobel Prize Committee."

TBC 


	5. Chapter 5

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed and Liz had a long talk about John; Jed, Abbey, and the girls had some fun learning Lizzie's dance steps; Jed and Abbey were shocked by an early morning call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences telling Jed he'd be receiving a telegram from the Nobel Prize Committee; Abbey was put on the spot by her supervisor during clinical rotations (started in chapter four of "Back Home Again")

Summary: Abbey has a run-in with the resident who made her med school rotations hell; Jed has some good news!

Author's Note: Thank you to Sharon for her help with the medical language in this chapter and to Daphy for her help in creating the character of Kyle Nelson last year!

There were few things in this world that could intimidate a strong woman like Abbey Bartlet. Intelligent, accomplished, and confident, she was poised to face any battle, to knock down any barricade that threatened her success. Even when she occasionally took the path of least resistance, it was always for the greater good.

When she discounted the idea of challenging Jed for his seat in the state legislature to secure a victory for legalization of medicinal marijuana, it was because she hated the idea of hurting her husband. She knew the better way to appeal to him was by adopting a method that would allow him to hear constituent opinion about her cause without jeopardizing his position.

When she decided to approve of a plea bargain that kept the man who attacked her out of a court trial three years earlier, it was because she feared the jury might not have enough evidence to convict him. Guaranteeing he would serve a five-year prison sentence by way of his plea was enough to ensure her acceptance.

And when she disregarded Jed's advice that she file a formal complaint against Dr. Kyle Nelson for confronting her physically once when she was a med student, it was because she knew Dr. Nelson's evaluation would then be tainted by the accusation and may have eventually jeopardized her budding career in medicine.

Living with her decisions was easy. The only one she actually regretted was the last. She hoped she would never see Kyle Nelson ever again, that she would never be burdened by the doubts that plagued her for those months as a third-year student, and later, by the thought that he had been just as abrasive with students who came after her.

But she would see him again. And this time, would be worse than the last.

The hospital rumor mill had been clogged with gossip. Abbey had heard grumblings that Dr. Nelson left Boston and had relocated to Hanover. As soon as that was confirmed and she realized he was hired by her hospital, she did her best to avoid him. It worked for a while, but eventually, avoiding him wasn't so easy.

Sitting behind her desk, her eyes glazed over the patient's chart as Kyle hovered above her, waiting for her opinion.

"Well?" he pressured her.

"I'm not finished reading."

"What do you think?"

"I think you were right to consult Dr. Nolan."

"Yes and he sent me to you, so tell me, what do you think?"

Abbey looked up at him, her eyes peering over the rim of her glasses. She leaned back in her leather chair and clasped her hands in her lap. "The coronary artery bypass graft does seem to be the most promising procedure for his case. Have you talked to him about it?"

"We've only scraped the surface. He's pretty much in denial about what's going on, so his wife Arlene has been helping him through it." Kyle took a seat in front of Abbey. "When can we do it?"

"We?" Kyle wasn't a surgeon, she silently pointed out with her expression.

"You know what I mean, Doctor."

She did know, but she enjoyed reminding him that the hapless student he ridiculed and taunted in front of her classmates for months had entered a specialty he initially wanted, but couldn't hack. She sighed, then answered. "I can schedule it right away."

"Good. I'll tell Mr. Niederlander."

"Why don't you let me? He and his wife will probably have some questions. The answers might be better coming from me."

"He's been my patient for years, Dr. Bartlet. He trusts me. I think I'm perfectly capable of explaining the situation and the procedure to him."

"I wasn't implying otherwise. I just think he might appreciate hearing from the person who will be performing the operation."

"Believe me, I can handle it. I may not be in that O.R. every day, but I do remember a little something from med school, probably even more than you."

"This isn't about you or me, Doctor. It's about the patient. Remember him?"

"If the patient has any questions I can't answer, I'll be sure to give him your contact information," he returned smugly before he spun around to walk out.

Abbey ripped her glasses from her face and set them down on her desk. Nine years had passed and Kyle's contempt for her hadn't changed a bit. He was still every bit as condescending as he was back then. She could see it in the way he looked at her, his brown eyes narrowing into thin slits when he disagreed. She could hear it in his voice, the harsh, cutting tone that escaped his lips with every syllable.

No, Kyle hadn't changed. And despite the fact that he was now a full-fledged doctor instead of a resident in charge of her clinical rotation, and that she was now a surgical fellow instead of a third year medical student, working with him again still made her feel remarkably inferior.

She left her office, but even the busy hospital corridor that usually inspired such fortitude, did little to suppress the twinge of anxiety Kyle had left her with. When she saw Robert Nolan walking in the distance, she sped up to catch him.

"Whoa, slow down," he told her as she practically raced him into the elevator.

"I was worried I'd miss you."

"Perfect timing, actually. I was hoping for a consult on some labs. Walk with me."

The door closed after Abbey pushed the button. "Dr. Nelson came to see me about a patient of his."

"The one with coronary artery disease?"

"Yeah. Why did you suggest he come to me?"

"You've done a few CABGs before and you're a top-notch surgeon, which is just what he wanted."

"Yeah, it's just..."

Concerned, Robert turned to face her. "Is it too soon? Are you not comfortable doing this kind of procedure so soon after your father-in-law's heart trouble?"

"No, no, it's not that. It's just that Dr. Nelson seems close to this patient. Don't you think?"

"I don't know. He didn't say anything. What's the matter? Are you having doubts?"

"I just want to be sure that CABG is the way to go."

"I think it is."

"Do you want to scrub in?" she mumbled, hesitant to suggest she wanted his help.

He leaned against the elevator, surprised. "No, not unless there's some reason I should."

Reluctantly, she shook her head. "No."

"Okay, then. You'll have a team of residents assisting. You'll do fine."

As the door slid open, Abbey's train of thought was instantly derailed by the sight in front of them. It had been five hours since the early morning phone call that rendered the Bartlets speechless. Abbey did her best to concentrate on her work since she left home, but until Kyle showed up to see her, it had been a futile effort.

But now, Kyle was a distant memory. Jed took priority. "Jed?"

It was like he hadn't even noticed her. So excited and lost in his path towards the cardio-pulmonary wing, he was oblivious to his surroundings. "Hey, there you are! I was going to wait for you in the lounge."

"What's going on? Is something wrong?" She reached for his arm.

"No, no. Nothing." He smiled to ease her suspicions, then placed his shaky hands over her calm ones. "It's true."

"What?"

"It's true. The phone call this morning. It was the real thing."

"How do you know? You got another phone call? The telegram?"

"Not exactly. But I know now that it's for real."

She realized what he was saying, but she needed him to say it. The smallest hint of happiness bubbled from Abbey's lips as she bent her knees and gripped both of Jed's forearms to ask, once again, "How do you know?"

"The press. They've been calling all day." Every breath was breathier, every word a little less pronounced than the last. "And as if I needed more confirmation, Dr. Housley came to my office this morning. He told me..."

"Told you what?" Her nails dug into the fabric of his shirt. A few tears pooled in her eyes, but she continued to search his baby blues for confirmation.

"The work I did on political freedom and advancement of Asian economic policy. He submitted my research last year...my articles, everything."

It was like an unbelievable dream come true. Abbey prodded for more details before she abandoned her inhibitions and allowed the stream of emotions that would ambush the tranquil poise she fought to maintain. "To who, Jed? Whom did he submit it to?"

Jed had now pulled her hands off his arms. Their palms touching, he curled his fingers around hers. "Well, it's a process, see. He was invited by the Prize Committee. They invite people who've already gained international recognition for academic research to submit nominations. And he did."

"The Prize Committee?"

"That's right. And then the committee screens the candidates and narrows it down then turns over the list of Economics Prize finalists to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, who then picks a winner."

"A winner for..." Jed nodded the last bit of confirmation Abbey needed.

"Yeah." His voice caught in his throat.

Suddenly, a violent eruption shook Abbey. She always knew of Jed's bottomless capacity for achievement. She recognized the strength and motivation that would one day propel him beyond any measurable marker he had set for himself. She just never imagined he would have reached the pinnacle of academic success this early in his career.

But it wasn't just the fact that he had that pushed her over the edge. It was that unforgettable look that seemed to hypnotize her, body and soul. A mixture of bewilderment, humility, joy, and utter disbelief fused together to shine in the most amazing twinkle she had ever seen sparkling in his sapphire eyes.

Her arms flew into the air, landing in a tight lock around his neck. She leapt into his arms with such energy that her feet left the floor. Her legs wrapped themselves around his waist as she plastered his face with kisses while muttering repeatedly, "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you."

Robert had no idea what they were talking about, but he couldn't help but grin as Abbey smothered her husband. Jed, who had been tearfully laughing at his wife's reaction as he held her tight, drew back slightly, pulling Abbey back to reality. She lowered her legs to the ground, urging Jed to help her down.

"Your back. Did I hurt your back?" she asked quietly, wiping the stains of lipsticks from his cheeks and forehead and running her fingers through the strands of hair that had fallen forward during the outburst.

"No, it's fine. I never give a damn about my back when you do that." Jed looked around to see all the doctors and nurses staring at them. "Sorry."

"It's perfectly fine," Robert answered. "I am confused about what's going on though."

Abbey exchanged a glance with Jed, then looked at her boss and proudly declared, "You're looking at a newly chosen Nobel Prize winner."

"Seriously?" Robert extended his hand to Jed. "Congratulations! I guess Abbey wasn't just making empty small-talk all those times she bragged about her genius husband."

Jed's arm was planted firmly around Abbey's waist. He squeezed her gently as he winked at her. "How about an early lunch?"

Abbey looked to Robert who replied without hesitation. "Go. The labs can wait and we'll discuss the Niederlander case later."

Husband and wife walked together, still delightfully stunned by the news. This wasn't something on the horizon. Only in his most guarded fantasies had Jed ever dreamed of winning the Nobel Prize. The political arena had launched his most treasured accomplishments and though the academic world was his home at the moment, his research wasn't consciously groomed for such a prestigious award.

But that was his most endearing quality, Abbey always said. He was a man who did the right thing for the right reasons. His endeavors were never steered by the possibility of accolades or mere recognition. Ever since their courtship, she believed that the inherent desire to contribute to his community, his state, his country, and the world was the driving force that motivated Jed to overstep the boundaries traditionally in place.

Now, everyone would come to know the sweet, caring humanitarian she had loved for all these years. If not through virtue of the press, then certainly through word of mouth. Of that, she would make sure.

A rosy blush colored Jed's cheeks that afternoon when Abbey shocked their waiter with the news. "He's a Nobel Prize winner, you know," she said to the young man once Jed introduced him as one of his students.

"DUDE!" the 18-year-old freshman shouted out as he slapped Jed's palm in a handshake. "That's totally awesome!"

"Thanks, Kevin. That means a lot." Jed sat down, visibly amused. He could honestly say that even in all his years as a college professor, he had never been 'duded' before.

Abbey chuckled when Kevin left to put in their order. "That was something."

"Is this how it's going to be from now on? Everywhere we go, 'meet my husband, the Nobel Prize winner.'?" He smiled at her adoringly.

"Yes, that's exactly how it's going to be. You might as well get used to it."

He knew she wasn't kidding.

Throughout the day, Jed was overwhelmed by the warm reception of everyone he knew. Every time he thought he had reached the height of emotional gratification, he was hit with yet another surprise. First, it was the impromptu staff celebration staged in the faculty lounge without his knowledge. Nearly every professor who taught at Dartmouth showed up wearing a goofy party hat and carrying a couple of balloons.

Then, it was the two dozen roses that arrived at his office a couple of hours after lunch. Abbey had put in a rush order to have them delivered immediately. Six of them were red, an indication of her deep and undying love. Six were white for security and happiness. Six were yellow, a color recognized for its vibrant representation of joy and contentment. And the last six, they were a very light pink. The card attached defined them as the greatest symbol of admiration and respect.

Circling the sweet-smelling flowers was a personal note, expressing, in detail, her pride in him as a man, and her devotion to him as a partner.

He assumed that special gift was the true test of his teetering composure. But he was wrong.

That evening, when he opened the front door to the farmhouse, he was greeted with another round of balloons and party whistles.

"Congratulations, Daddy!" the girls shouted as Abbey stood behind them, furiously flashing a camera.

He glanced at each of their faces. Elizabeth clapped in excitement. Ellie jumped up and down, begging him to cut the cake. And poor Zoey, confused by the hoopla. The only thing she knew for sure was what Abbey told her after Ellie's birthday a week earlier - that hers was next.

She looked up at her father and stated with confidence, "I'm three now, Daddy."

Laughing, Jed picked her up and whirled her around. He swiped the tears that dampened his lashes, then pulled out a knife to cut the cake as he joined his family at the table.

TBC 


	6. Chapter 6

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Dr. Kyle Nelson, the former resident who taunted Abbey in med school, asked for her consultation on a patient with coronary artery disease; Jed received confirmation that he was chosen as the 1982 Nobel Prize winner in Economics and was surprised by the warm reception on campus and at home

Summary: After a serious discussion, Jed and Abbey celebrate together

AN: Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

Rating: NC-17

Abbey strolled down the stairs of the farmhouse, her forehead crinkling when she thought she heard the faint sound of music. She reached the foyer and poked her head around the corner to the empty living room. Now certain the familiar song was coming from the den, she headed in that direction and arrived just in time to see Jed take a seat on the floor in front of the fire place, his knees drawn to his chest with his arm securely wrapped around them.

She smiled for a moment, then revealed her presence. "Hey."

"Hi," he returned, twisting his head to look at her.

She took his hand and joined him on the braided area rug. "I didn't think it was cold enough for a fire tonight."

"It never really is, is it?" He grinned. "I just felt like starting one."

Dean Martin's 'Love Me, My Love' captivated her attention. "I haven't heard this song in a while."

"It always reminds me of you."

"I didn't know you needed reminding," she teased.

He helped her settle between his legs with her back to him. He then pulled her so her head rested on his chest. He kissed her softly and said, "Thank you."

"What for?"

"For today. The flowers, the party, everything."

"The flowers were my pleasure. The party was actually the girls' idea."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. They're as proud of you as I am." She tipped her head back and with a hand behind his neck, pulled him forward to press her lips to his.

"Are they all tucked in?"

"Yeah. Ellie wanted me to tell you that seven times three is twenty-one."

Jed chuckled. "I gave her that one just before storytime. She's learning fast."

"Well, if there was ever any doubt, it's now been established..." Abbey pushed herself up so she could turn to face him. "...it's in the genes."

"I love you so much."

She looked into his eyes, just as she had a dozen times that day. This time, she saw something different. Devoid of the happiness and joy she had seen earlier, his warm baby blues were swimming in a flood of sadness. "What's going on, Jed?"

"What? I said I love you. Why would you think something's going on?"

"Because I know you."

It should have been obvious he couldn't keep her in the dark. On some level, maybe it was. But he railed against the thought of letting her into his world - at least on this night. "I want us to enjoy tonight. I want to make love you. I want us to celebrate like never before. Let's make tonight just about us."

"That's going to be hard to do when there's something on your mind, don't you think?"

"Abbey."

She slid her palm against his. Their fingers now entangled, she squeezed. "Please tell me what's bothering you. I have a feeling I know what it is anyway."

"You do, huh?"

"I've told you a million times..."

"I'm a puzzle," he started.

"And I've already figured you out," she finished. "It's about your father."

"It's not always good to know these things." He sighed as he tilted his head.

"Why not?" Her head followed in an attempt to make eye contact.

"Because it's not a topic I like to discuss." Jed saw no change in her expression. She wanted him to talk. She expected it. And after a couple of minutes of silence, he did too. "That second phone call we were expecting from Sweden, it came a little while ago. You were giving Zoey her bath."

"And?"

"It's official. We'll get an entire packet of itineraries, reservations, and arrangements for our trip to Stockholm in December."

"I hear it's beautiful there in December."

"Yeah."

"So what's the problem?"

"I was excited, at first. We get to invite 16 people to the ceremony and banquet afterwards."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so at some point, you and I will have to sit down and decide who we want to take with us. And, I guess that's what started all this. The second I hung up the phone, I thought of all the people we'd want to be there to share this moment with us. My first thought was your parents, of course. I can just picture your dad's face when he tell him."

"He's going to be absolutely ecstatic. He always said I married a wonderfully gifted man."

Jed nodded in acknowledgment. He had been grateful for the way the Barringtons had embraced him like he was one of their own. But seconds later, his smile abruptly faded. He quietly confessed, "My second thought was my parents."

Abbey rubbed his arm soothingly. "Jed."

"It just suddenly hit me. My mom passed away a while ago and I've made peace with that. I mean, I miss her terribly, but It doesn't surprise me anymore that I can't pick up the phone to call her. What I really wonder, though, is what my dad would have said."

"He would have said he always knew you had it in you."

"That's a nice fantasy." His hand covering hers, he threw her a skeptical stare. "I don't think he would have though."

"John Bartlet had many faults, Jed, but I truly believe that deep down, he loved you. He didn't know how to show it. He didn't know how to tell you. But that love existed. It was there. If it wasn't, he wouldn't have tried to reconnect so many times."

"Maybe."

"If he was here, he'd be as proud of you as the rest of us are."

"Let's not kid ourselves. He's never been proud of me for anything. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that if he was here, he'd probably dismiss the award. He'd point out ten other people who deserved it more than I did."

"No one deserves it more."

"Have you taken a look at some of the economics scholars out there? They're pretty good."

"You're the best."

"That's not what he would say."

Abbey dropped his hand and shook her head. "Don't. Don't do this."

"What?"

"You just won one of the most prestigious awards in the world. I'm not going to stand by and listen while you talk yourself into validating the reaction you think your father would have had. I'm not going to let you allow him to ruin it."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Look at me." When he did, she continued. "You need to try to put him out of your mind."

"I can't."

"You have to try."

"It's not that easy," he said with an edge to his voice. "You didn't grow up in that house."

And that was really the crux of the issue. Abbey could give him her support and her understanding, but she could never give him what he needed most right now - her empathy. The volatile relationship between Jed and John was beyond anything she had experienced in her own life and though she fought to help him heal the mental scars that sustained long after the physical abuse had ended, she would never quite be able to put herself in his shoes.

"You're right." She moved to his side. "But that doesn't mean I'm not hurting for you."

"I know. It's just that you didn't grow up the way I did. You had two loving parents whose world revolved around you. Unless you've lived with someone like my father, it's impossible for you to know how difficult it is for me to just put it out of my mind."

He was right. Over the years, Abbey had learned how forgiving abuse victims become of their abusers. The violator is sometimes considered blameless even for the most egregious betrayals, not out of fear, but out of an overwhelming desire to sympathize with them and, in some way, gain their love or approval.

Jed fit that profile well. It still amazed her how he managed to burden himself with excuses for his father's behavior. In fact, the credibility he was willing to assign to John's cruel tantrums frequently frightened her. But her job now wasn't to argue with him. It was to help him.

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and replied, "I have no earthly idea how it must have been for you as a child being raised by him. I wish I had some insight so I could help you. Better yet, I wish I could just take away all your pain. But I can't. All I can give you is a promise that I'm always going to be here to listen and to support you."

"You've given me more than that. Just knowing you're here...that you love me just because I'm me...that helps a lot."

"I'm always going to love you because you're you - you're the most generous, caring man I've ever met. I could never ask for a more amazing person to be the father of my children. And in two short months, you're going to be recognized as one of the most brilliant economists on the planet. Nothing John did or said can take any of that away. Not now, not ever."

"I know."

"Maybe I shouldn't have told you to put him out of your mind, but, Jed, I am so worried."

"About what?"

"I'm worried that you're going to spend the rest of your life trying to make up for what he put you through when he was alive. He never told you what an upstanding man you are and because he's no longer here, he never can. And I'm afraid you won't ever believe it on your own."

Abbey's face paled with the realization that in her heart, she was conflicted about John's death. More than anything, she wanted to give Jed one more day with his father to grant him that closure he needed to move on with his life. But John wasn't just abusive, he was vindictive, and because of that, a tiny sliver of doubt marred her desire.

Nestled in the gloomiest portion of her mind, her imagination conjured up a scene so grim, she could never share it with her husband. She wondered, if John was alive, would he finally put aside the bitterness that plagued his relationship with his son and value this accomplishment? Or would he simply dismantle Jed's achievement and clobber him with venomous words even worse than ever before?

She hated herself for thinking it, but she couldn't deny the possibility that John would stay true to form, and for that reason, she wasn't entirely convinced Jed would be better off with his father by his side for such a momentous occasion.

Jed noticed her thoughts had wandered, so, once again, he scooted behind her and wrapped his arms under hers to hold her close. "I really did want tonight to be about us."

"I believe you."

"Let's not talk about him, okay? We can deal with all this some other time. Not now."

"We'll do whatever you want."

"I don't know what I would do without you."

"You're never going to find out," Abbey assured him as she caressed his knuckles.

Jed dipped his lips to the side of her face, cupping her chin to lift her head slightly. Abbey squirmed in his lap until she was turned towards him. Husband and wife stared at one another without a word. The crackling of the fire mingled with Dean Martin's lyrics and during the brief pause between the end of the song and the replay, Jed swept the auburn locks that framed Abbey's cheekbones.

His eyes closed, he tilted his head before his mouth reached hers and upon first contact, he let go of his inhibitions. The memories and thoughts that haunted him moments earlier faded into the background as raw passion invaded his body. He pressed himself deeper into the kiss, unable to resist the building desire that caused her to raise herself up on her knees while her hands clawed at the buckle on his belt.

Abbey couldn't move fast enough. She had been yearning for this all day. She wanted to feel him, to hold him, and love him. She needed to be tangled in his rapturous embrace and relish his hot breath tickling her delicate skin as they raced, hand-in-hand, towards a frenzied climax.

After she peeled the jeans off his legs, she tugged at his shirt, ripping it from his body and throwing it to the side. Two buttons fell silently on the rug when he yanked on her blouse to reveal the black lacy bra underneath. With his fingers, he unhooked the front clasp, releasing her breasts to a natural bounce that stopped only when his thumb fondled their creamy slope and circled the hardened area crying for attention.

She raised her hips to remove her skirt, her sheer black hose following the same path down her legs and onto the floor. They were both naked now, exploring each other's bodies just as they had done so many times before. His strong hands trailed from the smooth mountains that shaped her chest to the satiny swells of her hips. He gripped her there and in one powerful stroke, he pushed himself against her so hard that he nearly penetrated her moist center.

It baffled her how something so familiar could seem so different. She and Jed had an active sex life, yet despite fifteen years of making love to him - the only man she had ever given herself to - the sensations he could instantly trigger inside her still caught her by surprise. Every encounter was more exciting than the last and though every inch of her body screamed for him physically, tonight, it was the way he locked into her stare that shattered her control.

His eyes illuminated by trust and adoration, Jed relaxed his jaw and brought her in for another kiss. This time, Abbey settled on top of him and held his shoulders to help him onto his back. As his lips continued to capture hers, her hands roamed down his stomach until she reached the spot that made him break the connection with a sharp sigh.

Her tongue then wandered over his chest, embarking on a winding passage towards his shaft. She lifted his legs to sprinkle his inner thighs with tender kisses as her fingers played in the soft hair at his groin. As soon as he bit his bottom lip, she got down to business.

The fullness of his shaft monopolized her touch as she covered it with her palm and ran her fingers from the tip to the head and back again. He groaned when she encircled him. And then, when she gently twisted him in her hand, he wiggled against the floor, provoking her to lower her face and graze him with the soft feel of her wet lips.

Slowly, she opened her mouth, only a little at first to suck lightly on the tip. By the time she had taken him in entirely, he was writhing beneath her with ragged, shallow breaths that slowed when he called her name.

"God, Abbey. I want you," he said weakly, convincing her to stop what she was doing and straddle his quivering form.

Positioned just right, she lowered herself down. Jed immediately thrust his hips upward, meeting her as their bodies grinded together. She leaned forward at first, using his chest for support to move around. Then, she leaned back, her hands falling behind her as she directed him towards the deepest point of penetration.

His nails dug into her hips, a grip so firm that Abbey had to struggle to pull herself up and down the length of his shaft. But that's what he wanted because as soon as she hit her mark, he guided her into a steady rhythm that multiplied their friction.

Jed looked up at his wife. The raging fire had cast a soft halo around her dark hair. Her features were glowing as well and he couldn't tell if it was because of the luminous flames that streaked her skin or the love pouring out of her sexy green eyes.

They were smoldering, those eyes. Hotter than the scorching embers behind her, Abbey's eyes were burning with passion. They were warm and inviting, twinkling with affection. That big heart that was open to the world and the selfless soul that would sacrifice everything for her family, it was all wrapped up in a package so beautiful, he couldn't look away.

As she squeezed her legs around his, he could feel her feminine muscles constricting towards an eruption. His fingers pried their way to the sensitive nub that he had massaged moments earlier. This time, he stroked it a little harder, adding the pressure in tiny increments until Abbey trembled uncontrollably, gasping for air.

With one final thrust inside her as she clenched around him, Jed also surrendered to the vibrations that shocked every limb. Pulsating aftershocks held their bodies hostage after Abbey collapsed on top of him. Instinctively, he drew his arms around her and when he smelled the sweet scent of her hair, the one and only thought that dominated his mind was how much he loved this woman. That emotion, strong and unrestrained, outweighed everything else.

She must have felt it in the hug, he figured, because with a muffled cry to catch her breath, she whispered, "I love you too."

TBC 


	7. Chapter 7

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed expressed his regret that his father wasn't here to react to news of his Nobel Prize; Abbey worried that if John was alive, he'd put a damper on his son's achievement; Jed and Abbey celebrated privately

Summary: As Jed rushes to get his daughters out of the house on Halloween, he encounters a snag with Liz; Abbey faces a serious problem with her patient

Feedback is always appreciated!

Author's Note: Thanks to Sharon for co-authoring this chapter! And thanks to everyone for all the feedback

Living with Abbey for fifteen years had taught Jed Bartlet the most confusing thing about the woman in his life: she won't leave the house until she looks the part. Abbey was always radiant to him, but for some reason, when preparing for a night out, her natural beauty was overshadowed by a desire for utter perfection.

Darting from room to room while getting ready, she'd interrupt him occasionally to ask his opinion on her dress. Sometimes, it was her shoes or even her earrings. And frequently, he'd get trampled by a web of questions he was positive were designed to manipulate his thoughts, tangle his words, and get him in trouble.

He got used to it though. In fact, fifteen years later, he considered it part of her charm. So it didn't annoy him at all when his daughters picked up that trait. It was just one more way they reminded him of their mother.

Of course, there were certain nights when being late had consequences more severe than others. On New Year's Eve, he could compensate for a poor viewing of the ball drop in Times Square. On Valentine's Day, he'd find an alternative to a restaurant that may have canceled their reservation. But on Halloween, it was excruciatingly difficult to explain to an overzealous toddler why some neighbors may have run out of candy.

Zoey followed her father as he paced at the bottom of the stairs waiting for Ellie and Liz. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and if she had had pockets on her silver Hershey's Kiss costume, hers probably would have been too. Instead, she settled for shrugging her shoulders now and then, but because her outfit was formed by thin shimmery straps on her shoulder that swelled to a big silver bulb around her little hips, even a shrug wasn't very comfortable.

A sterling cap laid flat on her head and every time she moved, the white ribbon with a glittery inscription of the candy's logo that hung from it, would sway in the breeze.

She had begged her parents for weeks to dress up as her favorite chocolate treat. Abbey combed the state, searching for the costume that would highlight her daughter's playful personality. But her effort proved fruitless and so, she spent hours over the past few days sewing one together herself. She did well, Jed had to admit. Zoey had never looked more precious.

"You better make sure no one mistakes you for a real treat tonight," he told the toddler.

Zoey simply smiled as she continued toddling behind him from one side of the floor to the other. "I want candy now."

"You'll get your candy. Mom should be home any minute, so as long as Ellie and Lizzie get down here, we can leave." He faced the staircase and hollered to his two older daughters, "Girls! Let's go! I want to get a picture of the three of you before we hit the road!"

"We're coming," Ellie assured him when she made her entrance. She was dressed in a satin blue dress with puffy sleeves. Abbey had spent hours the night before adjusting the white apron on the bodice and stitching the hem. White stockings covered her legs and a bow tamed her soft blonde curls. "Do I look like Alice in Wonderland?"

"Oh, Princess, you look prettier than Alice ever looked!" Jed held out his hand to help her down the steps. "Come on down here. You're just beautiful in your costume."

"Thank you, Daddy."

"Now put on your jacket. It's a little chilly tonight." He walked to the closet to get Zoey's jacket. "You too, Miss Zoey."

"No jacket!"

"You have to wear a jacket."

The little girl shook her head defiantly. "No!"

"If you don't wear a jacket, you can't go." She put on a stubborn expression and refused. Jed shrugged. "Okay, suit yourself. I'll call Mrs. Weaver to watch you while I take Ellie trick-or-treating."

Zoey contemplated this thought. She had been looking forward to Halloween from the moment Jed and Abbey explained the concept. It was a night like no other, Lizzie told her. She'd get to dress up and eat candy. That's all that really sank in. That's all it meant. But to Zoey, it was the biggest night of her young life.

Jed set aside her jacket as if he would accept her choice to stay home. With each passing second, Zoey's face crumbled just a little more until a frown outlined her pouty lips and her faint sniffles melted into a wail so loud that Jed immediately rushed to her side and scooped her up in his arms. He rubbed soothing strokes across her back and, eventually, Zoey pulled away to plead with him.

"I wanna go twick-o-tweat!" she mumbled through a cry.

"And I want to take you. So how about you wear a jacket just like Ellie?" He dabbed at the tears streaming down her face. "We're going to have so much fun out there and when we get home, we'll go through all your candy and you'll get to eat some of it."

"All of it?" Her bottom lip quivered when she pushed it out.

"Nice try." Jed chuckled. "You will get to have some though and we'll save the others for tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. But only if you wear your jacket. What do you say, Sweetheart? Will you wear your it?"

Zoey swallowed past her cries. She stopped sobbing and replied weakly. "Okay."

"Okay." Jed set her down and helped her climb into a light jacket. "Ellie, what's keeping Lizzie? If she wants to make it to her party on time, we're going to have to get going."

"Mommy's not home, is she?" Ellie asked.

"She will be. The question is who will be ready first - your mother or Elizabeth?"

"Lizzie said she's almost ready."

"I am ready!" Liz declared from the top landing. Unlike Zoey and Ellie, her costume was hidden under a thick winter coat. "Let's go."

Jed extended his hand as he sang to her. "There she is, Miss America..."

"Dad," Liz laughed.

"Can I help it if I'm in the company of such beautiful women? It inspires me to brighten your day with the wonderful gift of music."

"I can think of worse things you could sing."

"You know, it's not that cold outside," Jed informed her. "Believe it or not, it's unseasonably warm. You can take off the coat."

"Me too!" Zoey complained.

"No, not you too. It's cold enough for a jacket, not a coat."

"I don't want it!"

"Zoey Patricia, if you take it off, you don't get to go." Reluctantly, Zoey kept her jacket on, but she wasn't the least bit happy about it. Now that he had averted that problem, Jed turned his attention to Liz. "Why do you have a coat?"

"I get cold easily and my legs aren't totally covered." Her arms were folded over her chest to cover any gaps from the buttons.

Jed looked to the bottom hem of her coat. "Why not? Why aren't you wearing your boots?"

"Huh?" Liz followed her father's stare down to her heels. "Oh. They were a little tight around the toes, so I'm bringing them with me. They're already in the car."

It amazed him how much his oldest daughter underestimated his parental instincts. Jed circled around her when she stepped onto the wood floor at the bottom of the stairs. "I thought you were wearing tights."

"They're like tights. They're thick hose."

Jed nodded unapprovingly. She was testing him. "And where's the headband you're supposed to wear? Wonder Woman always has her headband on."

"Dad, you never look this closely. Why are you making a big deal about it?"

"About what?"

"Okay, fine. I decided to make a few changes to the costume Mom and I picked out."

"Mmm hmm," he said, leaning back against the wall.

"I wasn't entirely comfortable. I'm in high school now and I'm going to a high school party. Only little kids dress up as cute cartoon characters. We're teenagers and we dress up differently. I think there will be people there who will appreciate me in this costume better. And I think that if you think about it, you'll realize that when you were my age, you wouldn't have worn a Superman costume, if there were Superman costumes back then. But you would have worn something totally different because you were a teenager once too."

Rambling was never a good sign. He prepared himself for the numerous possibilities of what he was about to see. "Are you finished? Because if so, I'd love to get a look at what you've got under that coat."

"You're not going to understand. You never understand. Can't we just go?"

"Liz, we're not going anywhere until I see what you're wearing."

"Lizzie, there's not going to be anymore candy left," Ellie whined. "Please show him."

"No candy?" Fear blushed Zoey's cheek.

"There will be candy," Jed replied before the toddler tried to squirm her way out of her jacket once again. "We're just not going to get any until I see what Liz is wearing."

Peer pressure was one thing. Succumbing to the pressure of two younger siblings desperately pushing her was quite another. But Liz had such a deep affection for her little sisters that she sighed, bit her lip, and then unbuttoned her coat. "Here."

Ellie's brows arched so high that her forehead wrinkled right into her hairline. Her jaw hung wide open as she stared at the costume. "WOW! Where'd you get it, Lizzie?"

"You like it?" Liz held the sides of the thin black satin overlay that fell to a few inches below her hips and modeled the apron in the middle. The white lace underneath became more visible as she spun around.

"All right, that's enough," Jed intervened. Wonder Woman. That was the costume she had picked. Never in a million years had he imagined that his little girl would be standing in front of him dressed as a French Maid. "What in the world are you wearing?"

"I bought it from the mall with my own money. I think it's pretty." With her thumb and index finger, she pinched the fabric around her chest after realizing it had dipped lower than she intended.

It didn't help. The material was unstable, slipping and sliding all over her body. "I think it's atrocious and there's no way you're wearing that tonight."

"Dad!"

"No. You're popping out of it all over the place, Elizabeth." She wasn't serious, he reasoned. There's no way she could have seriously thought he'd allow her to wear it.

"It's how it's supposed to be! I'll make sure I don't show too much!"

"You're ALREADY showing too much! That thing ends at your hips," he yelled.

"It goes half-way to my knees!" she yelled back.

"Not unless your knees have magically moved seven inches up your thigh."

"That's such an exaggeration."

"No, forget it. There's no way I'm letting my fourteen-year-old daughter walk out of this house in that." He noticed the tighter layer of lace and ruffles that peeked out from under the black satin when she played with the hem. "People are going to think that's your underwear."

"How do you know it's not?" Liz answered coyly. She knew just how to try his patience.

"Elizabeth," Jed grumbled.

"I was kidding! Take a joke, Dad!"

"Do I look like I'm in a joking mood? Get upstairs and change into the Wonder Woman costume you and your mother picked out."

"I don't want to be Wonder Woman! The costume is loose on me."

"Your mom spent half the night taking it in and if it's still loose, that's too bad. You should have bought a smaller size."

"There were only two left and Mom wouldn't let me get the other one because she said it was too skimpy!"

"Well, I can assure you she won't be the least bit happy about your alternative then. And if you think I'm not going to tell her..."

"I want to wear it! Everyone at the party will be have a costume like this. There might even be some upperclassmen there and they're ALL going to be dressed up as sexy bunnies or slinky kittens."

Jed furrowed his brows. "What the hell kind of party are you going to? I thought you said Kim's parents were going to be there the whole time."

"They are! You can even talk to them when you drop me off. No one's going to be drinking or making out or anything else. We're just having fun. Even Kim has a sexy costume!"

Noticing her frustration, Jed changed his strategy. "All right, look. I'm not trying to ruin this night for you. I swear I'm not. But you just sprang this on me at the last minute and fun or no fun, I don't feel right letting you go to a party in a short, low-cut French Maid costume. I'm sorry. You're going to have to change."

"You won't even consider it? Please?"

"It's not appropriate for a girl your age. I'm not sure it's appropriate for a girl any age."

Out of options, Liz shot back accusingly. "Of course it is. That's why Mom has one EXACTLY like it in her private drawer!"

His face paled in embarrassment, but he railed against it as soon as he was hit with his daughter's sneaky tactic of misdirection. "It's called 'private' for a reason. From now on, you don't go into our room without permission."

"Fine."

"And don't talk to me that way either. Now go change." When she didn't budge, he gave her a warning. "Liz, if I were you, I'd get myself upstairs right now before I call off this whole thing off. You have two choices - Wonder Woman or the Snow White costume you wore last year."

"Snow White is a little girl's costume."

"Tough. Choose one and let's go."

"I can't wait until I'm 18!" She turned on her heels and with no small amount of exasperation, stomped her way up the steps. "When I'm an adult, I'm going to be a French Maid every single Halloween!"

"And that's why you're never leaving the dungeon."

"That's not funny!" Her final reply ended with a slam of her bedroom door.

"It wasn't really meant to be," Jed said quietly as he paced the floor once again.

Confrontations with Liz these days usually wore him out. He held strong, knowing that Liz wasn't a bad kid. She was a straight "A" student, always involved in extracurricular activities, a wonderful big sister, devoted to Ellie and Zoey more than he ever imagined she'd be, and a pretty spectacular daughter, volunteering to help out around the house whenever she could.

But she was the temperamental one in the family and like any other teenager, she was now a bit rebellious.

It didn't help matters that Liz had learned how to take advantage of Abbey's busy work schedule to manipulate Jed into getting her own way. Fortunately, he had become immune to her tricks and though he found himself constantly putting his foot down, he was secure in the knowledge that his relationship with Liz was rock solid.

Everyone else knew it too. That's why, on this particular night, Ellie and Zoey stayed out of the skirmish between father and daughter. They had learned long ago that their fights lasted only minutes and they assumed that once Lizzie changed into an appropriate costume, things would return to normal.

After the drama had died down, Zoey yanked on Ellie's skirt. "What's a dushen?"

"A dungeon. It's this dark room, like in a castle. It's where they keep all the prisoners." When Zoey squinted her eyes at the thought of Lizzie being sent to live in a dungeon, Ellie backtracked. "Well, it's really not scary or anything. Anyway, I think Daddy was only kidding. You won't really send Lizzie to a dungeon, right Daddy?"

Something lighthearted he had blurted out to Liz had an entirely different meaning to a younger, confused Zoey. He had to remind himself of that often. "Yeah, I was joking, Sunshine. I didn't really mean a dungeon."

"What did you mean?" Ellie questioned.

"I meant the basement. Just a regular basement like the one we have. And I'm not going to send her there. Not by herself anyway. It'll be the two of you, me, Liz, and your mom and we'll hang out every day and play cards and board games. Just the five of us. Not at all scary, okay?"

"Okay," Zoey replied, a smile framing her lips.

That explanation sounded much better to Ellie as well. "I like board games."

"I do too."

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"How come Mommy has a French Maid costume in her private drawer?"

Jed was drawn in to Ellie's inquisitive stare. He wasn't about to tell her the real story behind the costume, so he gave her the only other answer that came to mind. "She thought about wearing it herself to go trick-or-treating."

"REALLY?" Ellie's eyes lit up at the thought. "Mommy's gonna dress up this year?"

"Um...well..." The next question bought him some time.

"And how come Lizzie couldn't wear it too?"

"Because Lizzie's too young to wear something like that."

"But you said it's not good for anyone."

"I did, but it's a different thing here, Ellie. It's a grown-up thing."

"Is Mommy really going to wear it when we go trick-or-treating?"

Jed could just picture Abbey's face. Angry shades of purple and red would dominate her skin. Her eyes would be hurling daggers into his body. He opened his mouth to make an excuse, but was immediately interrupted by the ringing telephone. "Thank God." He dashed towards the receiver before Ellie could stop him. "Hello?"

"Hi," the familiar voice greeted him.

"Abbey?" He glanced at his watch. "You're supposed to be walking through the door any minute. Where are you?"

"Don't get mad."

"Oh, Abbey. Not tonight. The girls have been looking forward to this for so long."

"I'm sorry, Jed. I would have called earlier, but I was still holding on to a shred of hope that I'd be out of here in time." Her voice trembled slightly.

So slightly that if Jed hadn't been paying attention, he might have missed it. "What's going on?"

"Post-op complications. Bill Niederlander. He's got a fever of 103. He can barely breathe, rapid pulse, the whole nine yards. He's not responding to standard antibiotics."

"You think it's an infection?" Being married to a doctor, he had picked up some medical knowledge of his own.

"I think so. I ordered some blood cultures, but I can't wait for them. I need to take him back into surgery. Plus, his wife, Arlene, isn't convinced he needs to go back in and I'm afraid I may have been a little short with her."

"Honey, it's okay. No other doctor treats her patients and their families as kindly as you do. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you think. And if it was, she'll understand that it's been a long day. You've been working on the kids' costumes all week. I can tell how tired you are."

"It's just...he's in bad shape."

"Then it's a good thing he's got you. Go in there and do what you have to do."

She nodded with a sigh. "Tell the girls I love them and that I'll make it up to them? Oh, and take a picture for me?"

"Of course."

"Thanks."

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"The guy's pretty lucky to have a doctor like you. You're the best, Abbey. I've always known that."

His encouraging words were just what Abbey needed at that moment. Doubts had been festering since before the first operation and six hours later, they only grew deeper. Slowly, she hung up the phone, running her palm over the receiver before taking a deep breath and preparing herself to go back to the O.R.

The operating room. The place she had been thousands of times. The place she received the most intensive training imaginable. As she scrubbed her hands, the smell of iodine soap mingling with the roughness of the scrub brush against her smooth skin offended her senses. It was stronger tonight than ever before. Harsher.

She stared through the plexiglass at the patient lying on the table. A nurse was placing sterile drapes around the original incision site and like an instant trigger, it sparked a reminder for Abbey. It had been 36 hours since she made the first cut of the Coronary Artery Bypass Graft.

The procedure would be a common one, she had told him. It was supposed to be as easy as she had seen during all those medical seminars, as easy as it had been when she assisted with one as a second-year resident. But Bill Niederlander was an older gentleman who had been battling his health since he was diagnosed with diabetes a decade earlier.

Still, she was confident in this surgery. She took every precaution she could and when something went wrong afterwards, she reacted quickly. Six hours later, his condition was rapidly deteriorating. It would be up to her to fix him, so she refused to admit to the staff that would be helping her that deep down in the deepest crevasse of her heart, she was scared she couldn't.

With a sharp breath, she twisted her neck to get rid of the tension that came from a twelve-hour shift, turned off the faucet with her elbows, and walked through the swinging door into the O.R. A nurse dried her hands as she looked to the anesthesiologist.

"Chuck, how is he?"

"A little shocky, but holding his own. He's good to go."

Abbey nodded. "You let me know if anything out of the ordinary happens, any reason we need to stop."

"Of course," Dr. Chuck Bradley replied.

Abbey slipped her arms through the sterile gown a nurse held out for her. She snapped her gloves just as she had for every other procedure, then took her place at the table. She was the lead surgeon on this case. She was the one calling all the shots.

The room was dim, gloomier than she expected. She adjusted the overhead lamp to flood the table with a strong ray of light and nodding to her assistant, she took the scalpel from the O.R. tech to make the first incision.

"Pads! I need more pads." Reacting to the abscess she found, Abbey yelled at the tech to clean up the wound. "Can't you help me?"

Suddenly, a high-pitched squeak penetrated the room. "He's crashing!" Chuck shouted, frantically reaching for the drugs.

Through a mountain of nerves, Abbey took charge. "Paddles! Atropine! Epinepherine! Now!" She stopped for a second to catch her breath, then screamed louder. "Where the hell are the paddles?"

Each team member scrambled to respond to her orders.

"100 jules! Clear!"

The nurse nodded and pushed the button. Abbey flinched when Mr. Niederlander convulsed with the current forced through his body.

"No response. Give me 200. Clear!"

The team backed away from the table as another shock was administered.

"Damn it! Dr. Bradley, get those meds in him!"

"They've been given, Dr. Bartlet. He's just not responding!"

"300! Another dose of drugs! Clear!"

Another shock and still no response.

"Clear!"

Yet another unresponsive shock.

By the fifth time, the team knew it was over. Despite Abbey's further attempts, they all looked at one another, their eyes peeking over their masks to see who would tell the surgeon that there was no hope. Finally, it was Chuck who stood up and came around the end of the table.

Grabbing Abbey's hands, he took the paddles from her and placed them down. "He's gone, Dr. Bartlet. There's nothing else we can do."

"No," Abbey insisted, shrugging out of his hold and retrieving the paddles to try again.

Chuck reached for her shoulders this time. Turning her towards him so he could look her squarely in the eye, he dropped the formality. "Abbey! He's gone! He's gone. He's gone."

"Time of death, 6:08 p.m." another doctor called out.

"Do you want me to tell the family?" Chuck asked softly.

Abbey shook her head. "No. That's my responsibility. Just give me a minute, okay?"

Her energy had been completely zapped. She staggered around aimlessly for several seconds before she pulled off her gloves and kicked open the swinging doors.

TBC 


	8. Chapter 8

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed and Lizzie disagreed over her Halloween costume; Abbey's patient's emergency surgery kept her from going trick-or-treating with her daughters; Bill Niederlander died on the operating table after Abbey insisted she take him back into surgery when he developed an infection from his first operation a day earlier

Summary: Abbey breaks the news to Bill's widow, Arlene; Jed is upset that Liz is mad at him; Jed tries to comfort Abbey when she doubts herself

Feedback is always appreciated!

There were only a few things Abbey hated about being a doctor. The tedious paperwork was a minor annoyance. The long hours away from her family always filled her with regret. But, more than anything else, the times that she hated her job were times when she was hit with the cold hard reality that even as a doctor, she couldn't play God. 

Patients like Bill Niederlander were her favorite. The charming man with a vibrant spirit and a zest for life had a caring wife and two grown sons. He needed a simple procedure, Abbey had told the family. But she should have added that when it came to surgery, no procedure was truly uncomplicated. If she had, at least they would have been better prepared to hear what she had to say now.

It was a long walk to the elevator that evening. An even longer wait after she pushed the call button. She held it together, willing away the cloud of moisture that threatened to pour from her sad emerald eyes. It wasn't the time to allow tears. Not here. Not now. Only at home would she dare to lose her composure and confront the shattering blow that came from losing a patient.

Until then, she'd fight to remain calm.

Once she was secure behind the sliding doors of the elevator, she leaned against the silver railing on the side and like an uncontrollable force of nature, a wave of emotion caused her to nearly lose her balance. Her posture manipulated by the unexpected twinge in her heart, she pulled the little red knob that would stop the vehicle just as it began its descent, jerking her body so hard that she fell forward, crashing into the wall in front of her.

Instinctively, her hands shot out from her sides to cushion the impact, and when her palms came to rest, she pulled herself together, tilted her head back slightly, and sighed. She cleared her voice then, refusing to surrender to the intrusive lump that had formed in her throat.

She didn't cry or lose control, for she knew that abandoning protocol for even a second to entertain the feelings churning inside would distract her from the task at hand. So, she curled her lips together, dabbed the tip of her finger against her bottom lashes to dry any sign of tears, pushed the little red knob, and continued the journey down to the family waiting room, where she'd talk to Arlene Niederlander and try to explain the events that led to her husband's death.

As compassionately as possible, Abbey directed Mrs. Niederlander to a private area. The older woman turned several times along the way, entranced by the doctor's sullen expression and the faded smudge of mascara Abbey had neglected to wipe just under her lashes.

Arlene listened carefully. It didn't take long for all the ten-syllable words to melt into a jumble of meaningless jargon she couldn't understand. Her voice cracked when she lifted her head to ask, "Was he in any pain? Could he feel it?"

"No. He wasn't awake. He didn't feel a thing." It was small consolation for the new widow, but it was all Abbey could offer.

Arlene collapsed onto a chair and Abbey stopped talking. For one brief moment, she put herself in Arlene's situation, but the despair was overwhelming. The hopelessness that came from the thought of ever losing Jed painfully clawed at her core until she banished it from her mind. That's when she reached out a hand to the jittery woman beside her in a failed attempt to offer her some comfort.

Arlene's rejection didn't sting. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was expected.

When Abbey returned home later that evening, the morbid thoughts from earlier surfaced her once again, but she counted her blessings to drown them out as she watched Jed rocking Zoey to sleep in her room. Leaning back onto his chest, the toddler was cuddled up on his lap. Jed's feet hit the ground softly to rock the oak rocking chair while one of his arms held Zoey around her tummy.

His other hand turned the pages of the book 'Goodnight Moon' as he read to her in a soothing tone. "Good night, moon. Good night, stars. Goodnight, air. Goodnight, noises everywhere."

He looked down to see Zoey sleeping soundly. Abbey lingered in the doorway for another second, but left just as Jed rose to his feet and tucked Zoey into her bed. He didn't need to see her to feel her presence. One whiff of her familiar perfume and he knew she was home.

After covering his daughter with her favorite pink blanket, Jed made his way downstairs to see his wife. She had already stripped out of her hospital scrubs and was now wearing her maroon silk pajamas as she retrieved two mugs from the cupboard in the kitchen.

"Hey," he called out to her when she didn't notice him spying.

"Hi." She glanced back briefly, then returned her attention to the milk warming on the stove. "I'm making you a cup too."

Jed walked to her side. He suspected something was wrong, but he couldn't tell by her demeanor alone. He cupped her chin to lift her head, knowing one look into her eyes would answer his question. Her expressive orbs always revealed her deepest thoughts and tonight, they were bathed in a sea of misery.

She had lost her patient, he deduced. "I'm so sorry."

"I did all I could."

"Of course you did." He placed both hands on her shoulders, then let them fall to her upper arms as he pulled her into a hug.

"I mean, it is possible I missed something yesterday during the first operation, but in the O.R., tonight, I did everything right."

"I have no doubt about that, Sweetheart. People die sometimes. I don't believe, for a minute, you missed anything, neither the first time nor the second time."

Abbey pulled away and stumbled back against the counter. "You're more confident than I am. It's Halloween. I've been up the past few nights working on the kids' costumes. I've had a lot on my mind and very little sleep the past week. So, it's not out of the question that I did something wrong yesterday."

"Do you want to talk it out? Walk me through it, so I can prove to you this wasn't about anything you did or didn't do?"

She shook her head. "Not right now. I don't want to think about anything but us right now. I just want a cup of warm milk and I want to go to bed in your arms."

"Okay."

Her hands were shaking, so Jed took the mug from her and poured the milk himself. Then, with his fingers nestled on the small of her back, he guided her upstairs. Along the way, he snuck a few pieces of candy into his pocket, dropping them onto the bed before he set down his mug to fetch his sky blue pajamas from his drawer.

"Is that Ellie's or Zoey's?" Abbey asked.

"It's yours," he answered. "Just because you missed out on trick-or-treating doesn't mean you have to deprive that sweet tooth of yours."

"Thanks," she replied with a smile.

"Were the girls asleep when you checked on them?"

"Ellie was out. Lizzie was finishing up her homework."

"She had a lot of math tonight."

"She told me."

Jed fumbled with the buttons on his shirt and said quietly, "She's mad at me."

Abbey's feet hung over her side of the bed. She set her mug on the nightstand and twisted her back to look at him. "She told me that too."

"I tried to make it up to her, but she won't talk to me and the funny thing is, I don't think I was wrong. If you would have seen what she had on, Abbey...I mean, the thing went down just below her hips and she was popping out at the top. I know you wouldn't have approved of it either."

"I probably wouldn't have."

"Also, she just threw it at me at the last minute. For weeks, she's been saying she wants to be Wonder Woman for Halloween. She's been talking about nothing else. Then, you take her shopping, pick out the costume, she tries it on and models it for me, I say great! I was perfectly happy with her choice. You spent hours doing all those alterations for her. And for what? She just decides that it isn't good enough five minutes before we walk out the door?"

"Sounds a little strange, I agree."

"Strange? No way was this a last minute decision. I don't believe that she just suddenly had a change of heart. She had this planned. She bought that French Maid costume a week ago because she thought she could get away wearing it if she didn't tell us ahead of time."

Abbey flipped her legs onto the bed and watched as he draped his pants over a chair and stepped into a pair of sweats. He was talking so fast, so nervously that all she could say was, "Yeah."

"If she wasn't happy with Wonder Woman, she should have told us. She should have come to us and said 'hey, all my friends want to wear something a bit more grown-up.' I'm not saying I would have gone for it, but she would have had a better chance of getting her way than she did by hiding it."

"I think you're right."

"It was a boy-girl party. I just didn't feel right letting her wear something so revealing and her duplicitous behavior did nothing to inspire confidence in what she told me about the party itself."

"But you checked on that right?"

"Yeah," Jed conceded with a little bit of guilt. "I talked to Kim's parents. I made sure they were going to be there the whole time and that there was no drinking or anything else going on. Liz was telling the truth, of course. I didn't really doubt her for more than a second, but I had to be sure. It wouldn't have been the first lie she told tonight."

"What do you mean?"

"She came downstairs dressed in her winter coat. I asked her about it and she gave me some song and dance about being cold, told me her Wonder Woman boots and her headband were already in the car. She didn't admit the truth until I told her we weren't leaving before I saw what she had on underneath." He fluffed his pillow and threw it against the headboard.

"And that's when she showed you?" She pulled the covers back for him.

He crawled into bed, pouncing his pillow once more. "Reluctantly. So, yeah, I was a little annoyed. She ambushed me. I don't think she would have tried it if you were here, which only pissed me off more. But I didn't refuse to let her wear it because I was angry. I really didn't. I genuinely felt it was in bad taste."

"Who are you trying to convince, Jed, me or yourself?"

"Both of us," he admitted quickly.

"Because I don't need convincing. I know when you lay down the law with the girls it's for the right reasons. I've never questioned that."

"She told me the other girls were planning to wear similar costumes."

"And did they?" Abbey asked.

"No." He punched his pillow this time. "Turns out, they have parents too."

"Then why are you feeling so bad about this? None of her friends wore risqué costumes. It sounds to me like you handled the situation perfectly. Why are you feeling guilty?"

He stared at her, speechless and surprised. "I'm not feeling guilty. I was in the right. I have nothing to feel guilty about."

"Jed, you're talking a mile a minute, you beat the hell out of your pillow, and you're more than a little wound up. So, I repeat. Why are you feeling bad about making her take off the costume?"

"The pillow was uncomfortable, that's all."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing."

Abbey sank down to rest her head on the bed. "Try again."

"Abbey."

"You did the right thing. She told us she wanted to wear one thing, then changed it at the last minute and tried to hide it from you. If you thought the second costume was inappropriate, you had every right to make her wear the one we agreed to weeks ago."

"I know."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't like it when she's mad at me."

"She's been mad at you before."

"Yeah, but it's usually over in a few minutes. At the very most, a few hours."

"This will be over soon."

"I don't think so." He sat up in his spot, his back pushed up against the frame. "I checked up on her. I've never done that before."

"By walking her in and talking to Kim's parents?"

"Yeah. That's why she won't talk to me. She said I don't trust her."

"Because you wanted to make sure she wasn't bending the truth about the party the way she did about the costume. I would have done the same thing."

"Maybe, but I don't like her thinking I don't trust her."

"Well, for what it's worth, she didn't mention the trust thing to me at all. She seemed to be angry that she didn't get to wear her costume more than anything else, but let me ask you. Do you? Trust her, I mean?"

He stopped for a minute, then replied honestly. "Yeah. I do. I think she has a good head on her shoulders and I don't think she'd get herself in trouble. I was just thrown by the costume thing tonight, but deep down, yeah, I trust her. I just want her to trust me."

"To trust you?"

"Yeah. I want her to feel comfortable coming to me and telling me that she wants to be a French Maid for Halloween." Abbey stared at him skeptically. "Okay, so I wouldn't have been all that receptive to the idea, but she didn't even give me a chance. I want her to feel okay telling me stuff. I don't want her to be one of those kids who's scared to talk to her parents."

"She's a teenager."

"I know she is. But she and I have this bond. Ever since she was born, we've been extremely close. Why does that have to end just because she's a teenager?"

"It won't in the end, but right now, she's going to want her space."

"It's more than that. There's something different. She doesn't come to me like she used to and I understand that. I can get over that, but I kinda hoped her teenage years would be different than mine. I hoped she'd feel like I was her friend, not an obstacle constantly blocking her path."

"Jed, you can't always be her friend, especially now, at this stage in her life. She already has friends. You have a different role, a more important one"  
"I know that, but..."

"You're a kind and loving father and she respects you for that. You're the one who's going to screen her dates to protect her and keep her safe. You're the one who's going to make sure she does her homework even when she doesn't want to because you're going to be looking out for her future. You're the one who's going to love her and support her just for being who she is. That's who you are. Her father. Not her friend."

"Why do the two have to be mutually exclusive?"

"Maybe in a few years, they won't be. But right now, being her parent has to be enough because you can't be her friend." Abbey cradled the back of his neck and brought him in for a kiss. "But I love that you want to be."

"I can still live in my own fantasy world though, right? Where you get to handle all the discipline and I get to be 'Mister Cool Dad' who takes them out for ice cream and showers them with sugary sweets?"

"What's wrong with me being 'Cool Mom' for a change?"

"It doesn't roll off the tongue the way my thing does." His arm wrapped around hers, Jed settled back down, forcing Abbey to lay down beside him. "Besides, you'd never spoil them with candy."

"I didn't realize that was a requirement."

"Now you know." When she slid her back against his front, he curved his frame to accommodate hers, holding her tightly across her stomach. "But just between us?"

"Yeah?"

"I think that's what makes you a cool mom."

"Spread the word on that, will you?" Abbey stroked his arm.

"I'll do my best."

"Are they mad at me for not showing up tonight?"

"They were disappointed," he said sincerely.

"I'm never going to find the balance, am I? I'm never going to be the mother I want to be because I decided to be a doctor instead."

"Hey, it's not an either-or thing. Where is this coming from?"

"They're going to resent me well into adulthood. They're going to think back to the Halloweens I couldn't be there, the Christmases I was on-call. They're going to hate me."

"Abbey, you stayed up all night to glue crystals and glitter to Zoey's Hershey logo. You stitched their costumes, you showed Ellie how to do her hair to make her look like a picturebook reflection of Alice in Wonderland. That's what they'll remember. Even at this age, they understand what you do, Honey. They understand that you save lives."

"That's not what I always do," she said too quietly for him to hear. After a few minutes of silence, she squirmed to push herself back against him. "Jed?"

"Yeah?"

"I had to tell a woman tonight that she'll be spending the rest of her life alone. Her husband died on my table. And ever since he did, I've been wondering what I could have done differently."

Jed leaned forward to place a kiss on her shoulder, then tightened his grip around her waist. "It doesn't always matter what you do. If it was his time..."

"That doesn't help. You should know that. It didn't help you when your father died." She immediately regretted reminding him of something that was still so raw. "I'm sorry."

"There's no reason to be. You can bring up his death without making me sad. I can face the fact that my father is no longer here. I've come to terms with it."

Surprised, Abbey turned herself to look at him. "Have you?"

"Sort of. Every day gets a little easier. It will for your patient's wife as well."

"I don't know about that," she said, laying back down and curling up with her back to his front. "They were married for thirty-seven years. How does one pick up the pieces after a loss like that? I mean, if anything ever happened to you..."

"Shh. Don't think about it."

"It's all I can think about. You should have seen the agony on her face. Her life changed forever tonight and it's because I couldn't do what I was trained to do. I couldn't save him."

"You're a doctor, Abbey, a damn good one. But, Sweetheart, you can't save them all."

"Whenever I leave the hospital, I always think about you, about how I can't wait to see you. I can't wait to hear about your day or to tell you about mine. All the way home tonight, all I could think about was that Arlene Niederlander has no one waiting at home for her."

"I know." He kissed the back of her head.

"I'm never going to stop asking myself if I did the right thing."

"The surgery?"

"She didn't want him to go back in. I insisted."

"You did your job."

Abbey shook her head. "My job was to save his life."

"That's what you were trying to do."

"Trying isn't enough. It was out of my hands, I know that. It's just that you study for all those years and you sacrifice so much time with your own family because you want to help people. You want to prevent death. And sometimes, you can't. You have all the tools at your disposal, but you lose the battle anyway. Then you get to explain to a 60-year-old woman why her dear sweet husband died on the operating table. And you know the worst part?"

"What?"

"Sometimes, you can't even do that because, sometimes, you don't know why. I went over everything in my head. I replayed it a dozen times and I still don't know what kind of infection he had. I don't know why he got so sick after yesterday's procedure or why his heart stopped on the table tonight. I can't give her the answers she wants."

"The autopsy will tell you that, right?"

"Yeah. It's just that I should know. I'm supposed to know."

"Abbey." Jed breathed her name as he affectionately turned her around to face him.

Her arms now resting on his chest, Abbey refused eye contact. "Sometimes, I really hate what I do."

"Sometimes, I hate what it does to you," he whispered into her ear when she plopped down on top of him and dipped her face into his shoulder before he even had a chance to see her.

She was so quiet that had it not been for her petite frame trembling in his arms, he may never have known she was crying. He held her closer then, stroking her hair for a full hour until her body relaxed against his and she fell asleep, wrapped securely in his embrace until morning.

TBC 


	9. Chapter 9

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed was upset that Liz was mad at him because of the Halloween costume/party incident; Abbey opened up to Jed about losing her patient

Summary: It's election day and as Abbey takes Ellie with her to vote, Jed prepares to take Lizzie to the polls!

Author's Note: This was originally supposed to be wrapped up in one chapter, but since it's so long, chapter nine will be the start of election day and chapter ten will be the conclusion. I hope to post chapter ten later this week. Also, thanks to Skye for help with high school chemistry curriculum.

"Eight times eight?"

"Sixty-four!"

"Eight times nine?"

"Seventy-two!"

"Eight times ten?"

"Eighty!"

Jed turned a sly grin to his middle daughter as they stood at the kitchen sink and washed the breakfast dishes. "I think you have a cheat-sheet in your hand."

"I don't!" Ellie insisted, setting down the glass she was drying to raise her hands so her father could see the evidence of her innocence.

He continued to wash the last glass after giving her a playful wink. "Okay, Miss Smarty Pants, try eight times eleven."

Ellie pondered this question for a solid minute, curling her lips just the way Abbey did when sorting through something in her head. She hesitantly replied, "Eighty-eight?"

"I don't know. You don't sound sure. Is it eighty-eight?"

She thought about for a few more seconds, then chose to stand by her answer. "Yes. It's eighty-eight."

Jed didn't respond right away. He dried his hands on a towel and ushered Ellie to a chair next to his at the table. With a stoically ambiguous expression and his arms folded in front of him, he allowed the hint of a smile to tug at his lips as he leaned in towards her and said, "Good answer."

"Gallium." Abbey's voice echoed from the stairway. Holding Zoey on her right hip and cleaning the toddler's hands with a damp paper towel, she trailed just behind Liz.

"I don't know." Liz replied, staring down at the periodic table in her hands.

"Yes, you do. Just think it through."

"I doubt he'll ask us that one. It's too long and we barely even talked about electron configurations."

"It's an exam. You have no idea what he'll ask, so I want you to be prepared."

"Mom."

"Just give me the configuration for Gallium and we'll be done."

Jed had to chuckle as the frustrated teen rounded the corner to the kitchen while Abbey clicked at her heels, waiting impatiently for her answer. It had become a habit in the Bartlet house. Quizzing their daughters over breakfast was a common practice on the morning of math or spelling tests, or, as in Lizzie's case, an Advanced Chemistry exam.

Her eyes still glued to the periodic table, Liz rested her hand on the backrest and propped her knee on the chair before she finally volunteered the best guess she could muster. "1s-two, 2s-two, 2p-six, 3s-two, 3p-six, 3d-ten, 4s-two, 4p-one."

"Great job, Lizzie!" Jed beamed. It sure sounded complicated enough.

"Yeah, that was great," Abbey agreed. "But, unfortunately, it was wrong."

"How could it be wrong? It's right here!" Liz pointed to the element Gallium. "It ends at 4p-one!"

"Yes, but you have to fill the four-s orbitals before you start on three-d. So, it should have been 1s-two, 2s-two, 2p-six, 3s-two, 3p-six, 4s-two, 3d-ten, 4p-one." It never ceased to amaze Jed how Abbey could rattle off configurations right off the top of her head.

"These rules are totally random!"

"You'll learn more about it next semester. It'll all make sense someday, but for today, just remember..."

"He's not going to ask us that. And if he does, I think I should just accept the fact that I'll get that one question wrong."

"You won't get it wrong because now you know to fill the four-s orbitals first," Abbey assured her. "I really am impressed with your performance in this class, Lizzie. It's much harder than my high school chem class was."

"I don't like the subject though! I study all the time and it still makes no sense. I want to go back to learning the names of the elements or discussing whether tap water is an element, a mixture, or a compound."

"Which is it?" Ellie asked.

"It's a mixture because it has other chemicals in it, unlike pure water which is a compound," Liz replied confidently.

"That's my girl!" Abbey said proudly.

Jed stood to help Zoey reach her sippy cup on the counter. "I'm with Liz. I hate chemistry."

"What did you get in it?" Lizzie stared at him curiously.

"Me?" He turned to look at his daughter. "I didn't take chemistry."

"Jed." Abbey glared at him in that mischievous way she had of warning him that she was about to reveal his deep, dark secret.

"I didn't," he repeated, making the conscious choice to take his chances. Just as he suspected, Abbey didn't hold back.

"Your father made it to the first semester of organic chemistry in college and got a B in it. Millie and I were both majoring in chemistry, so we gave him such a hard time for that one small blemish on an otherwise perfect transcript, that he started telling people he never even took the class."

"You got a B, Daddy?" Ellie assumed Jed had never made anything lower than an A, a misconception he purposely reinforced.

"Are you judging me, Eleanor?" He smirked at the thought. "Ask your mother what she got in International Economic Policy."

"All right, enough of that." Abbey's tone suddenly took on a serious edge.

"Not as much fun when the shoe's on the other foot, is it, Dr. Bartlet?" Jed teased her, then turned to address Ellie. "Regardless of what she says, chemistry wasn't an easy class. In fact, it was one of the most difficult classes for me. You'll see when you have to take it."

"Well, I'm taking it now," Liz interjected, visibly flustered. "And even though it's regular chemistry and not organic, I think you should both be understanding if I make less than an A."

"Just do the very best job you can," Jed replied.

Abbey raised a brow in his direction, but resisted tweaking him more than she already had. Instead, she turned her attention to the day's schedule pinned under a magnet on the fridge. "Okay, looks like I get Ellie and Zoey this morning. I'm going to drop Zoey off at Mrs. Weaver's, then take Ellie with me to the polling place. Jed, you'll take care of Liz and pick Zoey up this afternoon?"

"Before or after I pick up Ellie at soccer practice?"

"Before, if you can." She studied the scribbles that charted out the girls' activities. "You need to make it back from Hanover around five to get Lizzie from cheerleading practice and you should probably vote right after that, unless you want to do it before school."

"I can ask Kim if her mom can bring me home from cheerleading," Liz offered.

"No, I can make it. My last class gets out at four."

"Are you sure? Don't spread yourself too thin." Abbey frequently regretted the twelve-hour shifts that kept her from helping him with the girls.

"I'm sure. It'll be fine."

"Okay. Goldilocks, you ready to go?"

Ellie rose to her feet and grabbed her books. "I have to get my coat. Should I get Zoey's too?"

"Please do."

Jed closed the space between himself and Abbey. "What's your hurry? It's still early."

"Don't you want me to vote before work?"

"Depends on who you're voting for." He was using the flirtatious voice she could never resist.

"Well..." She clasped her hands behind his neck. "There's this guy running in our district. I think he wants to keep his seat in the state house or something. All I know is he's got a chance and I want to make sure to throw him my support."

"Mmm Hmm. What do you know about him?" His arms fell to her hips.

"He's intelligent, sophisticated. He's a professor. Highly qualified. The best part is he's got a certain charm that makes all the ladies fall in love with him - including me."

"Sounds like a winner to me."

"Yeah, I think he is a winner, both professionally and personally. I hear he's a loving husband and father. And, just between us, I also hear he's a hell of a kisser." She leaned in to steal a kiss, then whispered, "And an even better lover."

"You should put that last rumor to the test."

"Maybe I will."

"Tonight?"

"He might be a little busy tonight, with it being election day and all."

"Nonsense. I'm sure he can always find a little time for you." 

"I don't know. He gets cranky when I ask him to fit me in to his schedule."

Confused, Jed broke character. "No I don't."

"What makes you think I was talking about you?" She smiled a wicked smile as he lifted his hand and slapped her rear. With a laugh, she broke the embrace to reach for her coat. "You're going to have time to vote?"

The sarcasm dripped from his smirking lips. "No, I think I'll skip it this year. This whole election day thing kinda snuck up on me so I didn't think to schedule time for voting." 

"No need to be snippy. I was simply reminding you that you have to make it back from Hanover early. Otherwise, you'll be late for the party."

"Party? You said it was just a few of the neighbors." He followed her as she retrieved Zoey's jacket and kneeled to help her put it on.

"It is, but it's still a party. And don't worry about dinner because Susan is taking care of that. I'm picking up dessert on the way home."

"Who invites people over and tells them to bring dinner?"

"I didn't tell her. She offered because she knows that you won't be home until after six. Besides, I didn't exactly invite her over. She invited herself."

"No coat!" Zoey blurted out, shrugging out of the garment just as Abbey tried to slip her arm through the sleeve.

"Is she bringing something edible?" Abbey stopped struggling with Zoey so she could glance up at her husband. "I'm just saying, last time we went over there, she had some kind of Indian dish and as tasty as it was, I needed about three gallons of water to put out the fire in my mouth."

"You like hot and spicy. And it was delicious. I'm sure whatever she brings tonight will be just as good." Irritated by Zoey's complaints, Abbey said sternly, "Stop it. You have to wear your jacket."

When she approached her with it once again, the two-year-old defiantly slapped it away, intentionally hitting Abbey's shoulder with the tips of her fingers at the same time. "NO!"

"Zoey!" Jed admonished her.

"She barely touched me," Abbey told him.

"I don't care." He bent down to the toddler's level. "You know better than that. How many times have we told you not to hit?"

The little girl lowered her head and said softly, "I sowwy."

Abbey held out the jacket for her. This time, she didn't fight or shake her head. She just put it on, and once she was bundled up inside, Abbey lifted her chin. "No more hitting, okay?"

Zoey nodded, then walked into her mother's open arms and clutched the collar of her beige wool coat as Abbey stood up. Jed handed her the black leather briefcase she had set down earlier, then walked with her out to the car. As Ellie made herself comfortable on the passenger's side, Abbey passed Zoey on to Jed.

"Time for your car seat, Zo," he told her.

She didn't complain the way she normally did. She barely even moved when he set her inside to fasten her belt. Her features drawn, Zoey fumbled with the straps, but didn't resist.

Jed pointed to an ordinary spot on her chest. When she looked down, he flicked her chin. It was an old, corny gag, but it always made Zoey laugh and right now, that's what Jed wanted.

"Is she okay?" Abbey asked as he climbed out of the car.

"She's good. I just wanted to make sure."

"Because you snapped at her?" He couldn't hide his true intentions from her. "She's fine. Now go inside before she asks why Daddy isn't wearing his coat."

"You know it's on the tip of her tongue."

"I'm sure it is." Abbey agreed. "I'll be home as soon as I can tonight. I'm thinking 7:30. Eight at the latest."

He leaned in to kiss her cheek. "Have a good day."

"You too."

She watched him walk briskly to the front door. As she slid into her seat and began to back out of the driveway, he stood behind the opened door and turned to wave goodbye.

"Do we spoil her?" His question lingered unanswered for several seconds after he made his way back to the kitchen.

Liz looked up from her chemistry notes. "Huh?"

"Zoey. In the past, your mom has said that Zoey has temper tantrums because we tend to spoil her."

"Ellie had temper tantrums sometimes and when I complained, you used to tell me it was because she was two. You said all toddlers go through that."

"They do," he admitted. "You don't think I spoil her?"

"You spoil all of us," Lizzie mumbled too softly for Jed to hear.

"What?"

"Nothing."

An awkward silence followed, both father and daughter avoiding eye contact until Jed finally looked across the table. "Still mad about Halloween?"

"Yes." It was partly true. She was a little hurt that he didn't trust her to be honest about the party, but deep down, her anger was rapidly fading.

"Because I notice you're talking to me now, which you weren't doing before, so..."

Desperate to change the subject, she asked, "Why didn't you tell us the election day story this morning?"

He shrugged. "I figured you didn't want to hear it."

"You tell that story every time we have an election. Why not today?"

"I don't know. I just didn't."

"I mean, I'm not asking for me or anything," she lied with a smile that assured him she was lying. "But Ellie likes that story."

"Uh huh. You're just looking out for Ellie?"

"It's what I'm supposed to do. She needs to learn these things because you never know who's going to ask her how the residents of rural America used to vote."

"No, no, no, no, no. It's not about how they voted! It's about why law makers chose November and why they designated the first Tuesday after the first Monday as election day."

She saw the passion in his eyes. Her grin widened. "Because the fall harvest was over, but the weather in most of the country was still mild enough to make travel possible."

"That's right and elections couldn't be held on Monday because..."

"Because back then, most people would have had to begin travel on the day before and Sunday was a religious day, so they had to move it to Tuesday. Also, it's held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday because November 1st can't be election day since it's All Saints Day and it would be a conflict for Roman Catholics."

"And?" He was quizzing her now.

"And most of the merchants back then did their books on the first of the month, so Congress was worried that individual economics would play a major part in whether or not people got to vote."

Satisfied, Jed nodded. "I guess you were listening all those years."

"It's a shame Ellie won't know as much as I do about it when she gets to be my age." Her eyes were twinkling with manipulation.

"Okay, Smartass, go get your books if you want to come with me to vote before school."

Giggling that girlish giggle Jed loved so much, Liz stood up to gather her books. "By the way, I've never been tested on this in school. Not one test has ever asked me about why we vote when we do."

"That's not your problem. It's a problem with the school system and we need to change that."

"You're not serious."

"Knowledge is never a vice, Liz."

"That depends on who you hang out with."

He held her backpack while she put on her coat. "On the contrary, Sweetheart, it's a good barometer for who you should be hanging out with. The smartest kids are the coolest...or the 'grooviest' or whatever other teen lingo is used to describe those who are hip these days."

Pulling her hair out of her coat, Liz wrinkled her forehead. "Seriously, Dad, no one ever says 'groovy.' You've been watching Brady Bunch reruns with Ellie."

"Give me a break, okay? I'm trying to fit in to your world. You don't make it easy."

"I try."

"You do not. You're amused that I'm totally ignorant about this stuff. The more ignorant I am, the more you get away with."

"Hmm. I guess you were right."

"About what?" Jed followed her towards the door.

"Knowledge isn't a vice after all."

"Neither are fathers, Lizzie. You'll understand eventually."

"And if I don't, you'll remind me."

"Every day for as long as I live."

TBC 


	10. Chapter 10

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: It was election day and while Abbey took Ellie with her to vote, Jed prepared to take Liz to the polls

Summary: It's still election day and both Jed and Abbey have something on the line; Jed lets Liz look over a sample ballot while he waited to vote; Abbey is confronted by her nemesis; Jed surprises Abbey

Author's Note: Thanks to Sharon for her input on the hospital scene and thanks to the folks at for inspiration

Election day was a much bigger deal for the Bartlets than it was for most families. From the time Jed and Abbey moved back to the United States with three-year-old Elizabeth, they had never missed a single vote. Whether it was a general election or a primary, a presidential election or the midterms, a March election or a December run-off, they took pride in casting a ballot, not just for the candidates, but for the issues as well.

And when Jed decided to run for office, election day forged a new perspective.

Liz looked back fondly on Jed's first state legislature campaign. She was only eight at the time, but she would never forget the excitement of that day. She spent most of the evening playing Barrel of Monkeys on the floor with two-year-old Ellie, looking up at the television every few minutes to see her father's name scrolling across the screen during live election cut-ins.

There really shouldn't have been much suspense. Jed ran unopposed that year. But it didn't matter. From the way her Grandma Mary kept a tight grip on Abbey's arm to the way her Grandpa James held his breath every time the newscasters flashed his son-in-law's name on the screen, it was obvious the entire family was operating as one big bundle of nerves.

It was six years later now and, surprisingly to Liz, that feeling still hadn't gone away. In fact, this year, it was more pronounced than it ever had been before.

As Jed and Lizzie pulled up to the precinct, Abbey and Ellie were just leaving. They walked through the stained-glass doors of the First Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Ellie holding Abbey's hand as they approached the parking lot.

"Hey, you decided to get it done before work."

"Yeah, well, Lizzie talked me into it."

Noticing right away that father and daughter were no longer upset about the Halloween disagreement, Abbey replied with a smile, "Well, you better get in there. The lines are pretty long."

"Is there going to be time?" Jed glanced at his watch.

"If I'm late for first period, no one will care," Liz assured him. "It's just Algebra."

"Just Algebra?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, so you'll care and because of that, I should too. Let's go vote!"

Liz tugged on Jed's arm, just as excited to get to the ballot box as she had been the first time her parents took her to the polls. She knew she wouldn't get a chance to officially vote until she turned 18, but she took pride in having a say through Jed and Abbey.

He expected this reaction from her. Thanks to the tradition of current event discussions at the dinnertable each night, Lizzie was more informed about the issues than most kids her age. Her intuitive nature gave her an edge and her impatience forced him to pick up a sample ballot. 

"Which one?" Jed asked her, giving her a choice between three city council candidates.

"Him." She pointed to the only name she was familiar with.

"Wrong answer."

"What? He's the guy in office now."

"Doesn't mean he's the right guy. Frankly, I don't think he's doing that great a job, so I'm thinking this one." He pointed to someone else. "You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because he's preparing a bid to lure the Patriots to town for training camp. Pretty good offer too. Even with all the renovations, we're talking major economic impact. Manchester would still come out ahead."

"You said that would never happen."

"It won't. We don't have a decent field. But I like the guy's assertiveness. I like that he's not sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. It's the ones with ideas who get my vote."

Liz scanned the ballot, pausing briefly when she saw Jed's name for state representative. Her eyes continued the journey moments later, stopping again almost immediately. This time, she pointed to the public policy initiative proposed by her mother. It had been a long, uphill battle, but Abbey had managed to prove the naysayers wrong and take her stand on medicinal marijuana to the voters.

"Look, there it is," she said with no small amount of pride.

"That's the result of months of hard work and determination, Lizzie."

"Will it get enough votes?"

"I don't think so," Jed answered sadly. "I'll tell you what, though. I'd be thrilled if I was wrong this one time. If people realize this initiative isn't for passing the bill, but simply a suggestion that the state legislature debate the issue in February, it may have a chance."

"It doesn't say you have to pass it?"

"No. It's just a debate, that's all. The question is did the voters listen when your mom and her colleagues tried to make that clear because I would bet half of them won't read it on the ballot."

"You still don't agree with her that it should be available for doctors to use on their patients, do you?"

"No, I don't."

"But you're still going to vote for it, right?"

"Absolutely. I have no problem with hearing the other side. I doubt it'll change my mind, but the least I can do is listen, right?"

"Well, I hope she wins on the ballot at least."

The thought of Abbey losing the vote upset Jed more than he showed. It was hard on him when he and Abbey disagreed, but he sincerely wanted to meet her halfway, not just for the sake of harmony, but because he knew how much it meant to her, how much it would mean to publicize an issue that had long since been buried because of layers of bureaucratic controversy.

Besides, of all his constituents, he respected her ideas the most.

"I hope she wins on the ballot too. But, hey, even if it doesn't get enough votes, I promised her I'd propose it at the start of the session next year."

"To keep her happy?"

"Not to keep her happy."

"Then why?"

"Because your mother's the most intelligent person I've ever known and when she's this passionate about something, I think it deserves it second thought, just in case my first thought was wrong."

Liz smiled sweetly at the sentiment. If there was one thing her parents had taught her, it was the art of compromise. Over the years, she had witnessed many of their fights. She had heard loud, angry voices booming from their bedroom occasionally, had felt the tension in the house when they were at odds. She noticed the deflated postures and somber expressions that always followed one of their arguments.

Then, as if she was watching the end of a familiar play each and every time, she'd see one of them make a move towards the other and, eventually, they would sit and talk openly, attentively until whatever problem had been wedged between them disappeared or, at the very least, been pushed to the backburner where it would fade over time.

"She'll be happy to hear you're giving it another thought," she said.

"What makes you think I haven't told her already?" Jed countered with a wink.

Liz smiled back until her stare landed on a copy of that morning's paper. "Dad, have you looked at the Union Leader today?"

"I haven't had time yet. I was too busy quizzing Ellie on her math this morning."

She picked up the newspaper from one of the tables. It was opened to page three, where a picture of Jed caught her attention. "Check it out!"

Jed ran his fingers along the Nobel Prize caption. "That's the third time they've mentioned me since the announcement two weeks ago."

"You're like a celebrity!"

Word was spreading fast, not just in New Hampshire, but throughout the country. Though he had received a great deal of attention in the days following the press release from the Nobel Prize Committee, Jed was somewhat oblivious to the large number of local admirers coming out of the woodwork for a glimpse of New Hampshire's most accomplished professor.

Nowhere was it more apparent than on the campus of Dartmouth College. For weeks, he had been greeted by students and faculty he barely knew, giving them a friendly wave or a nod of the head, assuming that the hype would die down as time went on. But it didn't die down. It had been less than a month since the news broke and the spotlight seemed to get brighter with every day that passed.

As his popularity continued to climb, his personal and professional credentials were scrutinized like never before. Several articles had appeared in the student paper, photo shoots and interviews had been granted for alumni newsletters. But that was nothing compared to what he found when he showed up to work that morning.

Someone had shoved a paper-clipped stack of clippings under his office door and as he picked them up, he saw a column he didn't even know existed.

"Rate my professors?"

It was a survey published in the campus paper every semester to help in the registration process. Students were asked to judge their teachers on a scale of one to five, rating them on their helpfulness, clarity, structure of the class, and relative difficulty of the subject. Jed scored well on all the main objectives, but there was one other criteria that instantly caught his eye. On the right hand side of the shaded box that boasted the results was a column overflowing with colorful pictures of hot peppers.

He laughed when he read what was posted underneath. Perhaps it really was an important factor when choosing a professor, though it was a consideration he had never truly entertained. Yet, there it was in black and white - The Hotness Factor.

On a scale of one to five, with a total of 280 votes tallied, Professor Bartlet scored a perfect 5.0 from the ladies on campus. A rosy blush colored his cheeks as he folded the paper, grabbed his bag, and headed to class.

A month ago, the only interaction Jed had was with his own students. Now, kids from every department seemed to know exactly who he was. Eager to meet him and anxious to learn what he had to teach, many of them filled the seats of the lecture hall that afternoon. By the time Jed arrived, the aisles were crowded with strangers, some even spilling out of the room and lingering in the hall.

"Well," he said, looking around at the unfamiliar faces. "This is Econ 101. Everyone know that?"

The students nodded and a young woman in the front row assured him. "We know."

"But you're not all in my Econ 101 class, so..."

"Most of us are with Dr. Williams. Some are here from Dr. Johnson's section too."

"Why?"

A student just behind the young woman answered, "Our professors know we're here. We just wanted to find out how a Nobel Prize-winning economist teaches this class."

He did his best to hide the grin that tried to dominate his features and with a deep breath, he replied, "Okay, then. If you'll turn in your books to page 117, we'll continue where we left off last week."

That evening, Jed and the girls returned home to prepare for the neighborhood get-together and a night of watching election returns on television. As the first small-town precinct returns came in, it was obvious Jed was distracted, his thoughts focused on Abbey's whereabouts. It was close to 8:30 p.m. and she hadn't showed up. Concerned, he picked up the phone to call the hospital.

"Hey!" Abbey yelled over the rotary dial.

"Abbey? Where are you? I was just calling the hospital."

"I just called you. I wanted to let you know I'm on my way."

"You were supposed to be here by now. I've got a house full of people, food, party supplies, television and radio stations all tuned in to election results, and no you."

She could hear him struggling to talk over the laughter and music in the background. "I know. I had a last minute emergency patient, but I promise, I'm on my way. Give me forty-five minutes, tops."

"Make it faster. Susan brought Mexican food."

"You hate Mexican food."

"Yeah, so I think you owe me an apology for giving me a hard time this morning when I told you she wouldn't bring something edible."

"It's edible. It's just that you don't like it."

"No, I don't like it. I've been snacking on chips and hot dogs."

"You want me to pick something up on the way?"

"No, I just want you here."

"I have to stop and get dessert."

"Hurry up, will you? She's been looking at me funny all night. First it was the Indian food, now the Mexican. One of these days, she's going to think I'm just xenophobic or something."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," she said with a chuckle. "Any results yet?"

"Only one percent of the precincts here are reporting. Plenty of other results coming in though."

Suddenly, Jed's head snapped to the side at the sound of Lizzie shouting. "Dad, you're already leading! Look! You're 12 points ahead!"

He paused to look at the television screen, then spoke into the receiver. "Make that six percent."

Excited, Abbey quickly stuffed her papers into her bag. "All right, I've gotta get out here! Don't win until I get there!"

She hung up the phone and grabbed her car keys, practically sprinting towards the elevator. As the doors opened, she stopped, surprised by the person standing in front of her - Kyle Nelson.

"Good evening, Dr. Bartlet. Do you have a minute?"

"Dr. Nelson." She looked at her watch. "My shift's over. I have to go."

"I just need a minute. I'm curious about what happened with Bill Niederlander."

"These things aren't top secret, Dr. Nelson. You can read my report."

"I will, but in the meantime, I'm wondering if you could tell me why you forced him back into surgery?" His voice was laced with an unforgiving twinge of contempt, in hopes of intimidating her, she assumed.

"I didn't force him back in. He was too sick to make a decision."

"Which means his wife, Mrs. Niederlander, should have been the one to make it."

"And she did." Abbey tried to leave, but Kyle stepped in front of her.

"Look, I don't want to undermine you here, but this man was my patient for years and when his wife comes to me, telling me that you manipulated her into giving you her consent, I feel it's my responsibility..."

"Manipulated her? That's not true. Her husband was very sick."

"Yes and why is that? What went wrong during the first operation?" Abbey avoided his accusatory gaze, so he persisted. "Dr. Bartlet?"

"I don't know yet."

"You don't know? You take a patient into the O.R. and he comes out with a post-op infection and you don't know why that happened?"

"It was just a few days ago. We don't always know right away."

"Well we should. I intend to find out exactly what happened and if you're in any way responsible for what that man and his wife went through, or if I find out that her allegations are correct, you better be prepared to defend yourself."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No. I'm telling you that you're a surgical fellow and a mistake like this could dramatically affect your future as a surgeon. If this happened because of your negligence, you'll be lucky to be doing sutures for the rest of the year. For your sake, you better hope you were in the right on this one."

She looked around, then lowered her voice to avoid being heard by others. "You do your whatever you want. Investigate the matter, bring in your own team of doctors if you want to, but you won't prove negligence. I did everything by the book and I'm confident enough in my decision that I won't cower to you or your oversized, overinflated ego."

Though she challenged him without hesitation, Abbey had been living with her own doubts for the past four days. Those doubts were private, though, hidden from the outside world by her refusal to allow herself to surrender to Kyle's taunting words. She simply walked around him, masking her uncertainty with an unwavering glare that forced him to look away. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he rattled her, nor would she succumb to a big public scene that could potentially spur harmful rumors through the hospital grapevine.

She continued her facade as she neared the farmhouse. The trip had taken her longer than expected because of a delay at the bakery. As she pulled into the driveway, she expected Jed and the girls to run out towards her, questioning her tardiness or surprising her with news of his early win.

When they didn't, she opened the door to ask, "Did you win?"

No one answered. Instead, as soon as she made her entrance, everyone in the room began to applaud, including Jed, who rapidly approached her. "No, I didn't. Not yet anyway."

"What's going on?" She set the cheesecake on the table.

He took her hands in his, caressing her fingers while he explained. "Your initiative passed in four districts."

"Are you serious?"

"I wouldn't joke about this."

"Jed." Abbey wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed herself into his warm embrace. "Four districts?"

"And those are just the smaller ones. The rest haven't finished counting the votes yet."

"I didn't think it would pass."

"I'm happy to say you were wrong. It did pass, thanks to your hard work. This is going to be a great night, Abbey. I know it is!"

Later, when they were alone, she'd tell him about Kyle and the Niederlanders, but for now, she let her worries subside and leaned in to kiss her husband's face.

TBC 


	11. Chapter 11

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed was surprised by all the attention he was getting on campus; Abbey was confronted by Dr. Kyle Nelson regarding the Niederlander case; with only a few precincts reporting, Jed was leading in his election while Abbey's initiative managed to win in four of the smaller districts

Summary: Abbey tells Jed about her conversation with Kyle; when Jed tries to storm off to find Kyle, Abbey puts her foot down

AN: The Kyle/Abbey med school relationship was originally depicted in the story "Back Home Again" which can be found on this site for anyone who's interested!

Election night festivities continued in the Bartlet house. It was an intimate setting, so small and personal that it allowed the adults to gather around the coffee table in the living room for dinner and dessert while they watched election returns on television. Unfortunately for Abbey, such close interaction betrayed her desire to hide her thoughts from the prying eyes of her guests.

She shifted in her seat several times. Her smile, seemingly forced, faded as the minutes passed, and floating among the flecks in her jade-colored orbs was a gloomy overcast that dulled its usual sparkle. Even when her public policy initiative passed in a total of seven districts and even when Jed won their home district in a landslide victory to reclaim his seat in the state legislature, a bubbly reaction escaped her. She kissed him a kiss of congratulations, her stiff body blocking the guarded emotions that churned inside.

Jed noticed immediately, but aside from holding her close in a hug of reassurance and a few stolen opportunities to squeeze her hand later, he waited until they were alone to pursue it.

Their guests eventually filtered out, couple by couple, and Abbey began the arduous task of cleaning up. Jed joined her after he put Zoey to bed.

Framed in the doorway of the family room where the kids had been playing earlier, he gave her a warm smile and asked, "You okay?"

She toyed with the idea of simply nodding. For tonight, she reasoned, she could pretend nothing was wrong, for his sake. He deserved that on the night of his election. Tomorrow, she could shower herself in her anger and frustration without raining on his parade and marring this wonderful moment with her own troubles. But just as she began her strong denial, her glance met his and in that instant, she realized he wanted the truth.

"It's not that big a deal," she said. "To anyone else, it might even be pretty minor. I don't know why I'm letting it affect me like this."

"What?"

"Something happened at the hospital that got to me." She set the plates she had collected back on the card table so she could devote her attention to Jed. "I had a run-in with Kyle Nelson."

"What did he say?"

"It's not what he said. Actually, it is what he said. I don't know why people say that because it seems to me that what people say matters just as much as how they say it."

"Abbey?"

"He implied that Bill Niederlander died because of my negligence, that something I did...or didn't do...during the first operation caused the infection."

Jed stood before her, motionless. She may not have been a board certified thoracic surgeon yet, but in his mind, Abbey was already world-class doctor. She loved medicine because of her patients, the people she devoted her entire career to. They came first in her professional life. Before the loopholes and bureaucracy that plagued healthcare, before the constant battles with insurance companies and the six-figure paychecks that she'd be cashing once her fellowship was over, her commitment was to the people who turned to her to make them well.

Obviously, Dr. Kyle Nelson was ignorant to that fact. The notion that he could accuse Abbey of negligence shocked Jed to his core. Instead of interrupting, he listened as she untangled the details of their meeting.

"He also accused me of forcing Arlene Niederlander to sign the consent form to get him back into the O.R. She supposedly told him that I manipulated her and now he's on the warpath, thinking that maybe the second operation wasn't the best course of action, that it wasn't in the best interest of the patient." Still silent, Jed folded his arms in front of him until Abbey curiously called out to him. "Jed?"

In a low, breathy voice, Jed replied, "Yeah?"

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"I'm waiting for you to finish."

"I'm finished."

"No, you're not. Because I know there's no way this man could accuse you of such things without you defending yourself, so I'm waiting to hear what you said to him."

"I told him that he could run his own investigation, independent of the hospital's, and he still won't prove negligence. I said I did everything right." Her gaze fell to the floor. "Only..."

"Only what?"

"The truth is, I don't know if I did everything right," she mumbled.

Jed opened his arms as wide as he could, then took a few steps towards her, enveloping her so tight into his embrace that he could feel her limbs clench then relax against him. They had been here several times before, lost in a maze of 'what ifs' and 'if onlys.'

Abbey had told him long ago that some husbands and wives tire easily of hearing their doctor spouse babble about the details of surgery, of patients they'd saved and those they'd lost. That was never the case with Jed. He cherished the way Abbey's face lit up when she recounted stories of a successful operation. Her enthusiasm was always his undoing. His heart beating with pride, he loved the goosebumps that tingled his skin when she talked about saving a life. And though it was a far cry from the giddy emotions he adored, he was just as receptive to the regrets that doused her happiness following a death.

She frequently tried to mask her tears, stiffen her upper lip to avoid surrendering to the helplessness that always pierced her soul. But he wouldn't let her. Only when doctors lose their humanity, he would say, is when they no longer cry. And with those words, he'd cup the back of her head and urge her to bury those tears in his shoulder, a place where they'd be forever safe from the rest of the world.

She had already cried for Bill Niederlander. Those tears had been shed on Halloween night. Tonight, she wasn't feeling any sorrow. She was feeling the brunt of her doubts drenched in the rage that Kyle had provoked.

Jed relaxed his grip across her back and when she stepped slightly out of his hold, he tenderly stroked her cheek. "Don't let him do this to you. Not again."

"It's not about him."

"The hell it's not, Abbey."

"It's not."

"I was there. I saw what he put you through in med school. I saw the way he tore down your confidence during third-year rotations. I won't ever forget how he made you feel."

Abbey had put those feelings behind her, she thought. Pimping was a normal part of medical school. As part of the curriculum, ambitious residents always quizzed students during clinicals. Most of the time, it was an educational tool to enhance the student's knowledge, but Kyle Nelson used the opportunity to taunt Abbey. Jed was right. Kyle humiliated her on more than one occasion and for a while, he robbed her of the spunk and tenacity that propelled to the top of her class after her first two years of instruction.

She wasn't willing to let him do it again. "I'm not a med student anymore."

"No, but he hasn't changed. And neither have you."

"What?"

"He tells you that you're to blame for a patient's death and you come home rattled. He got to you again. I don't get it. If anyone else had said that to you, you would have socked them."

"Actually, I wouldn't." She walked around him.

"Why the hell not?" He turned to face her back.

She spun around and replied, "Because I like my job! And in case you've forgotten, I'm a fellow and he's an attending."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten. But he's crossed the line."

"Yes, he has. And in time, I WILL do something about it. I won't let him get away with it. But for right now, I'm going to lay low, at least where hospital administration is concerned."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means, I'll handle it."

"How? By ignoring it? By letting it gnaw at you? You just told me you don't plan to go to the hospital for help, so how, pray tell, are you going to handle it?"

"By standing my ground against the implication that I did something wrong. Yes, Jed, I may have doubts, but I can still defend myself pretty damn well. I've been over that procedure a thousand times in my mind and I still can't figure out exactly what happened, but I will continue to claim I did nothing wrong until someone can prove otherwise because I don't think they can. I'm 95 certain I didn't miss anything."

"Then why the doubts?"

"There are always doubts. Even when everything goes smoothly, I replay it in my head and wonder if there was something I could have done better. It's just what I do."

"You're minimizing this."

"What?"

"This. What he said to you. You're minimizing it. If it was really no big deal, you wouldn't have been upset about it all night. It bothered you."

"Of course it bothered me. This is the first time I've lost a patient without answers. If anyone's suspicious, they're going to look to me. Add Kyle's threats to the mix and I don't know how you could expect me not to have been bothered."

"What threats?"

She shrugged, but they both knew he wouldn't dismiss her slip of the tongue without explanation. "Not threats really. Just something he said."

"What did he say?"

"He's just trying to flex his muscles."

"Abbey?" Losing patience, he called her name in a firm voice.

"He said that if he finds out I coerced Mrs. Niederlander into singing the consent form, I'd be doing sutures for the rest of the year!" she blurted out.

It took only a second for Jed to absorb her words. It drove him crazy that anyone dared to talk that way to Abbey. It annoyed him even more that he didn't know what to do about it. He felt helpless, an outsider to the politics in her world. He had ventured inside the walls of the hospital many times, but he never truly understood the tumultuous relationship that sometimes existed between doctors, especially when one was as ego-driven as Kyle Nelson.

He whirled around, briskly walking out of the room as Abbey followed. "Jed!"

"He's still working, right?"

"You're not going down there."

"Wanna bet?" He collapsed on a chair and bent forward to slip into his shoes.

"You're not going down there. Stop it."

"Abbey, I am sick to death of this guy pushing you around! He did it while you were a student and you begged me to lay off, which I did. Then you told me that you can't do anything about it without jeopardizing your grade and recommendations for residency."

"That's right."

"Well, as you so clearly pointed out to me just minutes ago, you're not a med student anymore!"

"No, I'm not. I'm a surgical fellow and I'm also an adult who doesn't need you to go down there to tell off the big, mean schoolyard bully!"

"So I should just ignore this?"

"You should be here for me just like you always are. Let me work through it my way."

"I will. As soon as I have a word with him." He stood and headed for the front door.

Abbey chased after him, clicking at his heels. "JED!"

"I'll be back." He opened the door.

"If you go out that door, we are going to have one HELL of a FIGHT when you get back! Worse than we've had in a VERY long time!"

Reluctantly, he paused. His back to her, he dropped his head and shot back, "I'll take my chances."

"DON'T!" she shouted. "Don't test me on this. Let me handle it."

"Your idea of handling things isn't exactly proactive, Abbey!"

"Excuse me?"

"God knows you haven't done anything so far," he snapped as he stepped back inside and slammed the door. He wished he hadn't turned to see her then. Her mouth was twitching with anger. Her eyes held an unforgiving stare. He inhaled deeply and softened his tone before adding, "You haven't done anything that he's responding to, is what I meant."

"That's not what you meant." She knew him so well. "I have done something. I've let him know that he doesn't scare me. And we'll revisit this. I will do something about it when the time is right. But in the meantime, I want you to understand that it it's not your job to make this all better."

"Yes, it is. I'm your husband. Yes, it is."

"No, Jed, it isn't." She abandoned her stern approach as she continued. "I know you're just looking out for me, but I know what I'm doing. You have to trust me."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting until the initial investigation is over. When there's a concrete report about both surgeries and about the source of the infection, I'm going to file a formal complaint of harassment against Dr. Nelson."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I can't do it until afterwards because I don't want anything to taint the investigation. I want to know what caused Bill Niederlander's death. If nothing else, his wife deserves the truth. Once that's done, I'll make sure Kyle never tries to intimidate another employee ever again."

"You're going to take him on? Even though he's an attending and you're a fellow?"

"I think I've proved myself over the past seven years. I've got some friends who will vouch for me, if it comes to that. I'm going to talk to Rob Nolan about it tomorrow."

"When did you decide this?"

"Tonight. That's why my mind was a little preoccupied at times. I'm just as angry as you are, but I can't let my impulses drive my actions because if I lose an ounce of credibility here, he wins." She extended her hand to him, curling her fingers around his when their palms touched. "That's why you can't go down there either."

"Forgive me for that. I was so furious, I just wanted to let him know who he was dealing with."

"Well, yeah, but he's not exactly dealing with you. At the hospital, he's dealing with me."

"No matter where it happens, Abbey, if he messes with you, he's dealing with me. Make no mistake about that." His breathing had steadied and, slowly, his chest stopped puffing.

"You know what?" Abbey pushed her hips against his as she wrapped one hand around his neck. The fingers of her other hand swept under the lock of brown hair that had fallen across his forehead during his tirade. She had made that happen. His love for her was so intense that the mere suggestion of her unhappiness was enough to spur his rage. How could she possibly fault him for loving her so much?

"What?"

"You are so irresistibly sexy when you're being an overprotective jackass."

He laughed. "You sounded pretty pissed off a few minutes ago."

"I'm over it."

"So does it always turn you on?" He flashed a coy grin.

"Depends on how I'm feeling."

"How are you feeling now?"

"Like I want to jump you."

She pressed her mouth into his, innocently unaware of his hands dropping to cover her rear. Suddenly, he pulled away. He cradled the back of her knees and scooped her up into his arms despite her protests.

"Jed!"

"Just relax," he told her as he walked towards the stairs.

"Your back!"

"My back is fine."

"It won't be if you don't put me down. You're going to give yourself a herniated disc. Either that or you'll make the one you already have even worse."

"You know, Sweet Knees, it is acceptable to drop the white coat and stethoscope once in a while."

"I thought you liked me in the white coat and stethoscope," she purred softly as her fingers delicately outlined his collar.

Jed stopped to get a good look at the mischievous twinkle in her eye. Her left brow arched to the middle of her forehead and she smiled out of the corner of her mouth, a flirtatiously playful expression that let him know, unequivocally, she was ready to play whatever game he had in mind. Without further hesitation, he tightened his grip on her back and her legs and sprinted up the stairs.

TBC 


	12. Chapter 12

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Abbey told Jed about her conversation with Kyle and when he tried to storm off to confront the doctor, Abbey stopped him by assuring him that she was going to take care of it herself

Summary: Abbey talks to Robert Nolan about her options regarding Kyle; Jed learns he may not be the only Economics Nobel Prize winner that year

Jed bounced an enthusiastic Zoey on his hip as they walked to the car. Her head was turned towards her father and her mouth moved a mile a minute, thrilled to be telling him about the drawing Ellie helped her with that morning. In one hand, she clutched a baggy with leftover cereal from breakfast and in the other, a crayon she refused to part with.

He threw his briefcase into the back seat, then pointed towards the horse barn. "Look over there, Zo."

The little girl whipped her head around, the sight before her provoking a sudden silence. Abbey had just finished her morning ride and was now approaching the duo. She wore her tall black leather riding boots over the tight denim breeches that hugged every curve of her hips. Her dark auburn waves, no longer inhibited by her skull cap, hung freely over the low-cut collared shirt that was revealed when she swung her jacket over her shoulder.

Jed smiled as he watched his wife strolling across the field. Last night, she had been so tense. Now, she seemed relaxed and in control. There was a visible spring back in her step. And, more importantly to him, a sparkle back in her eye.

"What are you looking at?" she hollered.

"The sexiest woman alive," he replied.

Recognizing her mother's riding outfit, Zoey kicked at Jed's waist until he let her down so she could run to her. "Mommy!"

"Hey, Sunshine." Abbey bent down to scoop her up in her arms.

"I wanna see Sadow!" Zoey excitedly pointed towards the barn.

"Oh Sweetheart, it's too late to play with Shadow this morning." The two year old's face crumbled with that news. Abbey stroked her back and sympathetically added, "I'll tell you what though. Tomorrow morning, I'll wake you up early and we'll go for a ride. Just the two of us, okay?"

"Sadow?"

"Yes, we'll ride Shadow."

Zoey pondered the thought for a moment, then stuck out her little finger the way Ellie had taught her. "Pinkie pwomise?"

Abbey curled her finger around her daughter's. "Pinkie promise."

"Now that that's settled, come on, Zoey, we've gotta get going." Jed helped her scoot in to her car seat so he could buckle her up.

"Why are you leaving so early anyway?" Abbey asked.

"I have a review session this morning."

"Don't your TA's usually handle those?"

"Yeah, but my Economic Policy class has a proctored midterm this afternoon so I agreed to do this one." His concern for his students' success far outweighed his own inconvenience. It was something that never went unnoticed, not on campus, nor at home.

"Come on. No one's that unselfish. You just want to go flirt with all those ladies who rated you a five on the hotness scale." Though Abbey wasn't above teasing him from time to time.

"I'm not denying a thing." And he wasn't above responding in kind.

"Am I going to have to send my spies to make sure you behave yourself?"

"You have spies?"

"Does that shock you?"

"It turns me on." He lifted both brows in that mischievous way he had.

"And that's my cue." She intentionally brushed past him as she headed to the house.

"Hey!" Jed called out to her. "What about you? What are you doing?"

"I'm going to talk to Robert today."

"To ask for his advice?"

"Yeah."

"Listen, about that...I gave you a hard time about Kyle last night because all I wanted to do was punch his face in for what he said, but I want you to know that whatever you decide to do about him, I'm going to support you."

"I already knew that," she replied with a smile. "But thank you for saying it."

"Give 'em hell today."

"I plan to."

And there it was. That passionate flame that he knew was burning inside her. She arched her brow and before turning from him, she gave him a glance at the seething cauldron of fire that burst from her expressive green eyes. In that instant, he knew, without a doubt that while Abbey had given Kyle Nelson a pass in med school, she wasn't going to do it again.

She walked in to Robert Nolan's office that afternoon full of determination. From the minute she took her seat in the leather swivel chair across from his desk, it was clear she had abandoned the nagging doubts that had kept her up all night. She was on a mission and Robert was about to hear all about it.

"I want to make some noise about Dr. Nelson and I want you to tell me the best way to do that," she said plainly.

"About Dr. Nelson? Why?"

"We'll get to that in a minute. First, I want to make it clear that the Chief doesn't know about this, no one at the hospital does. I'd like to keep it that way until we know the source of Bill Niederlander's infection."

"What happened?"

"I'm coming to you because I think you know that I'm not the kid who whines about being picked on in the playground. I don't complain unless there's reason to and in this case, I think it's in the best interest of every employee at this hospital that I say something."

"About what?"

"Dr. Kyle Nelson is an insufferable jerk. He leads by intimidation. That's how he gets his way with med students, interns, residents, and fellows, as well as the nurses. I think it needs to stop."

"I get the feeling you're about to make a serious accusation."

"He confronted me last night and while I don't want to make a huge deal out of it, I'd like it on the record so that next time someone files a complaint - and believe me, there will be a next time - they won't be starting from scratch."

He had seen Abbey like this before. Tenacious and aggressive. They were two qualities he admired the most about her. But his instincts kicked in and before he could fully commit himself to hear what she had to say, he made another suggestion. "Abbey, this is the kind of thing you should probably be talking about with your attending."

"I'm talking to you, Robert. Not as a doctor, but as a friend. All formalities aside, I need you to help me find a way to get him away from me without jeopardizing my career. That may be filing a complaint. Or it may be something else. Just help me find the path of least resistance."

"There might not be one. Tell me what he said to you."

"It's not just what he said..."

"Abbey."

"He tried to get me to admit that Mr. Niederlander's death was a result of my negligence and when I didn't say what he wanted, he told me he intended to find out what happened."

Robert shrugged. Ignorant about the history, he just couldn't understand the significance of Kyle's words. "Wait a minute. I know he's upset that we lost a patient. He's known the Niederlanders for years. Do you think you might be overreacting? Sounds like he just wants to find out what happened."

"Robert..."

"If he's taking his grief out on you, I'm not saying that makes it right. I'm just saying it may not be out of line to give him some leeway here. Doctor to doctor."

"Dr. Nelson and I will never communicate doctor-to-doctor." Her tone seemed harsher now, more bitter and a bit resentful.

"Why? What am I missing?" He thought back to her earlier statement and asked, "How do you have so much insight into how he behaves with everyone else?"

Abbey hadn't shared her past with Kyle with anyone but Jed. She never had a reason to until now. "Have you seen him with the interns? With the third and fourth-year med students? Have you witnessed his interactions with the nurses?"

"No."

"For starters, you should know that he has a big problem with female physicians and he's not above making that known to students."

That got Robert's attention. He leaned forward in his chair and asked, "What has he done?"

"Now? I have no idea. But when I was doing third-year rotations in Boston, he was my resident."

"Why didn't you tell me you knew him?"

"Because it's not something I go around telling people. He was a bastard back then, Robert. He took pimping to an extreme and for the six weeks I was assigned to him, he made my life a living hell. He was the same way with the interns and, presumably, once he finished his residency, he turned on other residents as well. And God knows how much crap the nurses took from him every single day. They all despised him as much as I did."

"You've never told me any of this. Why now?"

"It happened about eight or nine years ago and I hadn't seen him since until you referred him to me for the Niederlander case."

"If I had known there was so much history between the two of you, I may have thought twice about that. But everything else aside, you can't pursue a complaint based on what happened when you were in med school."

"I'm not, believe me. I'm here because of what happened last night. When Kyle talked to me, I saw that same hostility in his eyes. I heard it in his voice. He hasn't changed. Not at all."

"Unless he actually said or did anything else last night, I can't advise you to pursue this. If you file any sort of complaint against him for a conversation like the one you described, it may come back to bite you in the ass later."

"He tried to intimidate me. Isn't that enough for a formal complaint?"

"Abbey, you're a fellow. He's an attending."

Frustrated, Abbey stood. She turned to the side and put her hand on her hip. "That isn't an excuse!"

Robert rose to his feet to meet her at eye level. "Look, I know it's not fair, but he's got the upper-hand here. He didn't touch you, right? He didn't say anything to threaten your safety, your well-being?"

"No, not last night."

"This is the worst possible time to file a complaint just because a doctor lost his temper."

"Lost his temper? Is that all you think it was?"

"You have a history with this guy. He was rude to you when you were a student. He pimped you in a way you thought was unacceptable. We've all been there. We've all had residents and attendings shout us down and make us feel like morons during our clerkships. We've all, at one time or another, even done it to med students."

"I never did it to anyone," Abbey returned quickly. "Whenever a student is assigned to me, I remember what I went through. I treat them with the respect they deserve. They're people, Robert. And while they're with us, we're supposed to be their teachers. I can't imagine why we would want to berate them just to make them feel like idiots."

"That isn't what I mean. I'm just saying that pimping is part of the process. It helps them. It motivates them to read when they leave the hospital every night, to come in every morning prepared for the cases they're assigned."

"And sometimes, with the wrong person in charge, it shatters their confidence and sends them home completely disgusted with the profession. Our goal is to turn out capable physicians. With Kyle, pimping isn't a motivator. It's a detriment."

"Maybe it was for you, but, Abbey, you have to move on. You have to forgive him for being a jerk to you back then. You felt humiliated in front of your peers, possibly in front of another doctor. I understand that, but it's over."

"I'm going to go ahead and tell you again this isn't about what happened back then."

"That's how it's going to look. This is someone you don't like very much and with good reason. He made your life hell during rotations. Fine. But all these years later, you're going to file a complaint because he told you he intends to find out why his patient died? It's not like he crossed the line."

"You had to be there," she whispered as if accepting the fact that she was losing this fight. "You had to hear the way he said it, the cold, steely look in his eyes. It gave me chills."

"I wasn't there and neither was anyone else. You're going to persecute a doctor because he showed concern for a patient that expired, that's how it'll look. And as if that isn't enough, you're going to do it before you're even cleared of any wrongdoing in that patient's case. Don't you see how others are going to interpret that?"

"They should interpret it the way it is. You read the Niederlander chart, Robert. I know you did. Do you think it was negligence?"

"The point is..."

"Do you think it was negligence?" Abbey looked him squarely in the eye as she waited for his response.

"No."

"Good. Then neither should anyone else. And as for how it looks, I've been here long enough that they should know I'm not trying to settle an old score with a petty charge of harassment! Dr. Nelson is a fairly new hire. He's been here...what...a month, six weeks? Do we know why he left his last job? Did anyone look into prior complaints against him?"

"It's not like we just hire people off the street, Abbey."

"That's not what I was suggesting. I'd just like to know if he's ever been challenged on what I would charitably call his attitude problem because I know I couldn't have been his only target. That's why I'm doing this. Kyle Nelson has no right being a doctor, let alone practicing in this hospital."

"That's not for you to say. And I would strongly recommend you not say it outside of this room."

"A minute ago, you said that now is the worst time to file a complaint. Why is that?" Robert sighed as he lowered his head, piquing Abbey's curiosity. "What's going on?"

"You're not supposed to know this, but the Chief is going to ask you to sign on as an attending next year. He's already decided he wants you."

This was what she had been working for since the start of medical school. A demanding position at a prestigious hospital once seemed like a lifetime away, but now her goal was well within reach and, to her own amazement, it took her only seconds to shrug it off.

"During one of the last days of my rotation in med school, I contradicted Dr. Nelson's order for a patient. He wanted Phenergan, 50 milligrams. Problem was, she had epilepsy. After I corrected the order, Kyle dragged me into another room and told me to never do that to him again. I watched him punch his fist into the wall and then, when I tried to leave, he grabbed my arm and then my shoulder. He shook me, physically, and he threw me up against a cabinet so hard, he left a bruise on my elbow. That was my warning. He said I only get one."

"Did you report him to the clerkship director?"

"No. That was in 1974, Robert. I was the only woman in my graduated medical class. I was already fighting an uphill battle and I was worried that if I complained about one of my rotations, I wouldn't get a sparkling evaluation to help me land an Ivy League residency. And now that I've got my Ivy League residency, my problem still hasn't gone away. Ironic."

"You didn't tell me it ever turned physical."

"It did. And Kyle may not have laid a hand on me last night, but I feel confident in saying that anger problem he had back then, it's still there. In the past, he has made it know that he hates female physicians, especially women who choose to have families while they pursue a career in medicine. He'll be looking for reasons to intimidate me and every other woman at this hospital. Doesn't that bother you?"

"Of course it bothers me."

"Then why would you encourage me to drop this just so the Chief can make me an attending? I want to work here, I really do. But I want to Kyle gone more. For everyone's sake."

She was doing the right thing, she quietly told herself. She had turned down the chance to stand up to him once before. She wasn't about to make that mistake again. The job wasn't worth letting Kyle continue to stalk the halls while she waited anxiously for the next time he had the urge to saunter over the line of professional behavior.

"Have a seat," Robert said as he reclaimed his chair. She looked at him for a second without moving, so he continued. "You said you wanted me to help you find a way to deal with this without ruffling too many feathers. Have a seat and I will."

"You will?"

"I can't say he'll be fired for the words exchanged last night, but you want it on his record, right? I'll help you do it."

It was then that Abbey realized she was right about Robert. There had many times over the past several years that she reached out to him for support and every time she did, he reached back. He helped her get back into the residency program after she took a year off following her brutal attack. He went to bat for her when the hospital gave her flack for Jed's interview discounting Elliot Roush's allegations that a gay pediatrician infected his patient with AIDS. She had no doubt that he would be her ally through this as well, but at this point, he had become more than just her mentor. Their relationship had blossomed into a close friendship, one that was special to both of them.

They sat privately for the next hour while Abbey recounted every word exchanged between her and Kyle, not solely for the sake of filing a complaint, but simply to give Robert a look at the real Dr. Nelson. The past was the past and she was willing to accept the fact that what he did years ago would have no relevance to who he was now, at least as far as the hospital was concerned. Robert wanted to know though. He wanted to fit together every piece of the puzzle before he advised her to taint the reputation of another doctor.

So, he listened attentively and when she was finished, he promised to help her in whatever way he could. It wasn't about revenge, they both agreed. A loose canon was a liability to everyone on staff. Though he was admittedly biased towards Abbey, Robert's concern centered on the problems Dr. Nelson's temper could potentially cost the hospital.

After they formulated a plan to arrange a meeting with Abbey's attending physician, the hospital's Chief of Surgery, and Dr. Kyle Nelson, Abbey ran out of Robert's office, excited to share the news with the one person she knew would be even happier than she was - Jed.

Unfortunately for her, Jed's class had finished early and he had been sidetracked by yet another press interview.

A reporter from the local paper in Hanover furiously scribbled into his notepad as he posed another question to the Nobel Prize winner. "I take it you're going to have quite an entourage in Stockholm?"

"Abbey and I have invited a few friends and relatives to join us. so I guess you could say that."

"Professor Housley?"

Jed would have never excluded the man who submitted his work to the prize committee. "He was invited, of course, but, unfortunately, he can't make it. His wife's mother is gravely ill and they want to be with her just in case."

"So who is going to accompany you?"

"Lets just say lots of people and leave it at that." He had gone over the list numerous times, but he wasn't yet numb to the sting of not seeing his father's name as one of the guests.

"Have you seen the official list of this year's laureates?"

"I haven't, actually. Not yet."

"There's a rumor floating around that you'll be honored along with one of your colleagues."

"Really?" Jed expressed some surprise.

"How do you feel about that? Having to share the spotlight with another economist?"

"Well, the purpose of the Nobel Prize is to recognize groundbreaking research that contributes to the welfare of society. So if there is another winner in Economics, I'd proudly share the stage with him. In fact, I'd embrace the opportunity."

His sincere proclamation would soon be tested. As the Bartlets made plans for their trip to Stockholm, Jed still had no idea that somewhere in Tokyo, his former grad school rival, Yosh Takahashi, was doing the same.

TBC 


	13. Chapter 13

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Robert promised he'd help Abbey fight off Kyle Nelson; Jed learned he may have to split the Nobel Prize in Economics

Summary: The hospital declares Abbey's innocence in Bill Niederlander's surgical complications; Jed and Abbey are off to watch Ellie's soccer game and Liz's cheerleading, but everything doesn't go according to plan

Jed wrinkled his forehead as he fought to pronounce every daunting syllable of the unfamiliar words that crowded his book. It wouldn't be difficult, he had told himself. An accomplished scholar, self-motivated and disciplined, he wondered how hard could it possibly be to learn Swedish in two months?

He scoffed at that question now because he now realized the Scandinavian languages, to an outsider, were as intricately complicated as they were beautiful. He had never struggled with a language the way he did this one. When he learned Latin, he was a boy and it was part of the school curriculum. Greek came easy to him, for he knew that once he had mastered it, he could read Plato and Aristotle the way they were meant to be read. Though he'd hardly call himself flawlessly fluent, he had even dabbled with Italian and French because they happened to be Abbey's favorites.

But there was something about Swedish that mesmerized him, something that captivated his attention for hours every time he attempted to learn. He hadn't yet conquered the vocabulary or the grammar, but he was close enough to string words together with a little preparation.

And to prove it, he leapt to his feet and rushed to the foyer as soon as he heard Abbey open the front door. "God dag, min skön litten cupcake."

She looked at him curiously. "Okay, I caught 'cupcake.' What was the rest?"

"I said 'good morning, my beautiful little cupcake.'" His proud smile made her laugh.

"Oh, well, that is nice, except I'm pretty sure 'dag' means 'day.'"

"It does not," he replied incredulously. "Since when do you speak Swedish?"

"I know a word or two." She followed as Jed turned to retrieve his book.

"Aha!" He opened to an appropriate passage, then handed it to her. "It's right there."

"I stand corrected," Abbey conceded.

"Don't tell me about Swedish. Six weeks I've spent on this."

"You're right, what was I thinking questioning you? I mean, after six weeks..."

Jed narrowed his twinkling eyes. "You're making fun of me." Unable to deny her good-natured ribbing, Abbey nodded. "That's okay, you can make fun. Just remember, when we're in Stockholm and you can't even order breakfast, you're going to be at my mercy."

"I trust you'll order what I want."

"What would be the fun in that?"

She approached him as she slipped her arms out of her coat. "Jed?" Her voice held a serious tone and just when her eyes locked into his, she said, "As far as the hospital is concerned, Bill Niederlander's death was the result of post-op complications that I couldn't have prevented."

The room fell silent for the next several seconds until Jed let out an overwhelming sigh of relief. He took her by the elbow and twirled her into his embrace. With his hands gripping her waist, he picked her up. "I knew it! I told you from the start you weren't to blame for this!"

"I know." Abbey was so amused by his excitement, she could barely get the words out. "But it feels really good to have to the hospital say it too."

He spun her around briefly, stopping when they heard Lizzie shouting from upstairs.

"MOM!"

"I've been home 30 seconds," Abbey mumbled before she shouted back, "I'll be up in a minute!"

Jed let her down. "If you're too tired to go today, I'll talk to the girls."

"No way!" she replied without hesitation. Today, as hectic as it would be, was important. Regardless of how exhausted she was after working an overnight shift, she'd never forgive herself if she missed Ellie's soccer game or Lizzie cheering at her very first basketball game. "I just had my fifth cup of coffee and I'm going strong. As soon as I help Lizzie with her hair, I'll be ready to go!"

"All right, well, hurry up then. We have to leave in exactly fifteen minutes."

"All I need is ten."

He watched as she bounced up the stairs. She stumbled on the fourth step, her legs betraying the energetic facade, but calling her bluff would have done no good. Abbey was determined to attend the girls' activities. So instead of stopping her, Jed headed to the kitchen to pour her another cup of coffee.

Abbey sat on Liz's bed just behind her teenage daughter. In the corner, Ellie laid flat on her tummy while she and Zoey cut thin rectangular pieces of green and red construction paper.

"I want it to be really wavy. Curly even!" Liz handed Abbey a bottle of hair spritz.

"I'll do my best, but, Sweetheart, you don't have curly hair."

"I know. That's why I want a perm."

"You don't need a perm."

"I really want one. Please think about it. I'd love to get it done before we go to Sweden. Curly hair will look great with the purple dress I want to wear to the awards ceremony!"

Abbey turned Liz's head to the side so she could face her. "I just spent a fortune on the black dress you said you wanted for the awards ceremony."

"I changed my mind. I think the purple one I already have is better."

"The purple one is faded and it's too cold outside for spaghetti straps."

"You're wearing a strapless dress. Anyway, I'll wear a coat over it."

"Lizzie, the black dress is beautiful on you. Not to mention it was altered to fit you. I can't take it back."

"Dad said it was okay, as long as I was happy." Liz turned back around.

"You talked to your father?"

"You were at work, so I tried them both on for him and he said the black one didn't look right. He likes the purple one better too."

Abbey scrunched Liz's ponytail a few times to give her some extra waves, then took the edge of the teasing comb to pull down a few locks of hair from the side. "These are too long. I'm going to have to cut them if you want them curled."

"Mommy, will you cut my hair too?" Ellie asked as she brought her the scissors.

"You don't need your hair cut," Abbey replied, snipping a few strands of Liz's hair.

"But I want the sides to fall down by my face just like Lizzie's."

"Ellie, your ponytail looks great just the way it is."

"Please?"

"I really don't have time right now. You're going to be late for your soccer game if I don't get changed."

"Yeah, and they still have to drop me off first, El," Liz added. "By the way, Mom, make sure you're not late. If you're late, you'll miss the first stunt and that's the one I've been working hardest on."

"We won't be late, but why do we have to drop you off first?"

"Because Ellie's soccer game runs till 2 and I have to be at the school by 1:30. It's on the schedule."

The schedule. It was attached to the fridge and color-coded for each child's activities. Jed updated it frequently, but Abbey had been so caught up in her recent troubles at the hospital, she had neglected to check it in over a week.

"You're going to miss your sister's game?" she asked.

"I can't help it. I explained it to Ellie and she's cool."

"It's okay," Ellie confirmed. "Lizzie came to the last one."

Abbey shrugged. "All right. I'm going to go change."

"Mom?" Liz called out to her once more.

"Yeah?"

"You have to be on time. My first stunt is a twist at the top of the pyramid and it's the very first thing I do. It happens right before the music starts. I want you to see it so you can tell me if I'm bending my leg or if I'm getting enough height compared to the girls behind me."

"We'll be there."

Abbey left Liz's room and went to her own. Kicking off her shoes as she stripped out of her scrubs, she grabbed a pair of faded blue jeans and a pink V-neck sweater from her drawer.

"Hey." Jed walked in carrying a mug of steamy coffee.

"Thanks." Abbey placed it on the nightstand, then pulled the sweater over her head. "Did you tell Lizzie she could wear her purple dress in Sweden?"

"Yeah. She really likes it."

"First of all, it's not a winter dress. Secondly, it's old and faded."

"She can wear a jacket. And it didn't look old and faded to me. She looked lovely in it."

"Jed..."

"Abbey, what's the problem? What difference does it make which dress she wears?"

"We spent eight hours shopping for the black dress. I had it altered to fit her body. I'd just appreciate if you'd talk to me about things like this before you tell her she can just throw it in the back of her closet and never wear it."

"That's not what I told her. She asked me which one I liked better and I agreed the purple one was nicer. I didn't talk to you because you were at work at the time."

"I'm sure I came home that night."

"Actually, you came home the next morning." He grinned at her, hoping to lighten her mood.

It didn't work. "I'm not playing around."

"Neither am I, Abbey. If you're going to be as wrapped up in work as you have been for the past three weeks, you're going to have to let me handle some of these things."

"The past three weeks have been hell for me."

"I know that. But life in this house didn't stop. The girls still had problems. They still needed one of us for advice and guidance." When Abbey plopped down on the bed, he joined her. "I had no idea this would bother you so much."

"Well, it does. It's not just the dress. It's the hospital. It's Kyle Nelson. It's everything. When I found out today that I wasn't responsible for what happened to Bill Niederlander, do you have any idea how relieved I was? Jed, I was so scared that I could have killed a patient."

"It's over now."

"But it isn't. For years, I've been dividing my attention between the hospital and my family and everyone's getting shortchanged. You, the girls, my patients. I was up late for a whole week sewing the girls' Halloween costumes. Then, I went into surgery the next day after already working a ten-hour shift. Kyle wasn't totally wrong. I didn't make a mistake, thank God, but I could have. This balancing act is getting harder every day."

"You can take a breath, Abbey. The Niederlander case is behind you and the hospital told you what I've known all along. You didn't mess up. You did all you could to save the man's life. Give yourself some credit." Jed dropped to the floor, a pair of socks in his hand as he prepared to slide them onto her feet. "As soon as we get home, I'll draw you a hot bubble bath and give you a full-body massage. How does that sound?"

"Heavenly." Abbey tipped her head back at the thought of letting the stress pour out of her with a night of rest and relaxation.

"Mom, Dad, are you ready?" Lizzie bellowed from the hall.

"In here!" Jed answered.

Ellie trailed behind her, her small frame shielding a toddling Zoey who emerged from her side to greet her parents. "Hi!"

Zoey's natural red highlights blended unevenly into her wispy strawberry blonde locks, probably because of the way her hair was tied into awkward little pigtails. They looked disheveled. Messy. Jed and Abbey glanced at their youngest daughter, then turned their attention to the other two, their suspicion piqued by the uncomfortable stares they received in response.

Jed walked behind Zoey and held out the two sections of hair. "Look, Honey, it's the Wendy's girl."

"I think she looks good," Liz said.

"Why did you do that to her?" Abbey untangled the silver rubber bands that had been carelessly twisted around the pigtails.

"What makes you think I did it?"

"Because it's too tight to be Ellie's work." As Zoey's thin tresses fell to her shoulders, a horrified Abbey ran her fingers through the layered mess. Zoey's sides were cut up to her ear in disorganized, jagged edges. "What did you do?"

Liz recognized that tone. Before Abbey could say another word, she defended herself. "All I did was put it up."

"Who cut it?"

"It wasn't me! You always accuse me."

"I'm not accusing you. I'm asking you."

"It wasn't Lizzie." Ellie said in a low whisper.

"Ellie did it!" Zoey proudly informed her mother, pointing to the eight-year-old who stood silently across from her.

"Zoey felt left out," Ellie replied.

It was then that Abbey noticed the thin curls that sprinkled out of Ellie's ponytail. "Did you also cut your own hair?"

Ellie looked at Liz who reluctantly interjected. "No, I cut Ellie's hair. She wanted it to look like mine, so I cut it for her."

"And after we left Lizzie's room, Zoey asked me to cut hers so she could look like me and Liz." Ellie stared at her shoes shuffling against the hardwood floor. "But I can't cut as good as Lizzie can."

Abbey straightened out the knots and pulled on the butchered sides of Zoey's hair. "Both of you know better. We don't have time to get into it now. We'll talk about it when we get home. In the meantime, go get me a headband, Ellie." After her middle daughter left, Abbey looked up to see Liz standing out of the way with her arms folded over her chest. "I wasn't accusing you."

She had never felt so disconnected from Elizabeth. Lizzie was her baby doll from the day she was born. So sweet and innocent, the little girl may have clung to her father, but it was her mother who stayed home with her and cared for her every day for the first three years of her life.

Mother and daughter had developed a special bond in that time, one that changed slightly when Abbey started med school. It changed even more when she began residency. And all these years later, that bond was hardly recognizable. She had hoped that when Liz volunteered at the hospital over the summer, they'd re-establish their connection, but somehow, the time spent together emphasized the distance between them.

It was clear that Liz was growing resentful. Initially, Abbey excused it as the behavior of a typical teenager. She'd outgrow it, she thought. But deep down, she secretly wondered if she'd ever reclaim the relationship she once shared with that sweet little girl.

"Are you ready to go?" Liz asked. "I don't want to be late."

Abbey slid a black headband over Zoey's hair and straightened out the frizzy strands with her fingers before standing up. "I'm ready."

That afternoon, Ellie scored two goals for her soccer team. Each time she had control of the ball, Jed launched himself out of his seat, cheering her towards the goal posts. His screaming was so loud, his excitement so intense that it once provoked Zoey right off the stands, forcing Abbey to chase after her when the toddler held out her hand to her big sister and began her descent down the steps while repeatedly chanting Ellie's name.

"I wanna pway too!" the two year old called out as she came dangerously close to losing her balance and tumbling down the stairs.

"ZOEY! Stop walking this instant!" Abbey grabbed her by the arm and picked her up.

"I wanna pay with Ellie!"

"I know you do, but you can't play with her right now. We have to watch her from the stands."

"Is she okay?" Jed asked when they approached him.

"Yeah. She wants to play too."

"Hey, Zo, I'll teach you how to play soccer later. In the meantime, look..." he took Zoey from Abbey's arms and pointed to the field. "Ellie's about to score another goal."

Physically drained, Abbey rubbed her eyes to clear the cobwebs that clouded her view. "She's doing pretty good out there."

"Did we have any doubts?" He looked at her with a grin that immediately faded when he saw the tired expression on her face. "You okay? We can go home if..."

"No, we can't. I want to see Ellie win this game and I can't wait to see Lizzie's routine. We can't go home."

Later, the family rushed to the high school gymnasium to watch Liz cheer for the girl's basketball team. Every girl on the squad looked spectacular in the red, white, and blue uniforms, but Jed and Abbey's eyes scanned the others in search of their daughter.

The chestnut-haired freshman stood in front of her teammates, entertaining them with jokes or stories that were making them laugh hysterically. She was so engrossed in conversation that she didn't even realize her parents had walked in until Zoey called out to her.

"HI IZZIE!" she yelled when they walked past the cheerleaders on the way to the bleachers.

Liz turned to wave to her, then gave her parents a thumbs-up and a smile so wide, it brightened her entire face. She mouthed the words, "The first stunt" to remind them to watch for her before she took her place among the other students.

Throughout the game, Abbey snapped photos of her daughter leaping into the air and cheering for the home team. "She inherited those lungs from you, you know," she told Jed.

"I'm proud of that fact," he returned appreciatively.

"She's great, isn't she?"

The real show would come at half-time when the cheerleaders would take the floor. A three-minute dance routine that had been worked and reworked and practiced to the point of exhaustion had finally come together. Abbey knew how important the first stunt was to Liz. She had talked about nothing else all day. So when her pager went off with six minutes on the clock, she contemplated ignoring it, but the possibilities gnawed at her until she couldn't concentrate on anything else.

One of her patients was teetering on the brink of death and if the on-call doctor needed her consultation, she had to give it. "Jed, I have to take this call."

"You're kidding. Not now, Abbey."

"There's a pay phone right outside."

"It can wait."

"No, it can't. It's the Johnson case. This one's a matter of life and death."

"They all are. There's less than six minutes on the clock."

"Which actually means ten minutes. There are going to be a bunch of fouls just like there have been all afternoon. This might not be able to wait that long." She hated leaving, even for a second, but she vowed to keep the call short, convincing herself she'd be back in plenty of time. "I'm not going to miss it. I promise."

She ran down the bleachers and raced towards the doors so fast that she nearly slipped across the floor. Disappointed, Liz turned to her father for answers. He clapped louder to cheer her up, but she just shook her head in response.

The page had been an error, only soaking up four minutes of Abbey's time. Unfortunately though, by the time she made it back to the gym, the music had just started and Liz's first stunt was over.

"Well?" Jed asked.

"Wrong page. They wanted Dr. Callahan."

She took a seat next to her husband, remorsefully lowering her head when he said, "She'll understand."

It wasn't true and they both knew it.

"I'm sorry." Abbey's apology was met with a cold stare in the locker room afterwards.

"It's fine," Liz answered, an obvious lie to avoid a discussion.

"I saw the entire routine. The only thing I missed was that one stunt."

"I said I'm fine."

"I know what you said, but you're not fine."

"It was just one stunt?" She seemed more stung than angry. "It was the one stunt I had been practicing for weeks! It was the ONLY thing I wanted you to see!"

Abbey reached out a hand to her. "Lizzie, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. There were five and a half minutes left on the clock. I assumed that meant more like ten with all the stops. I misjudged it, I'm sorry. I never should have taken the call. The code made me think it was about a patient I've been monitoring for days. This weekend is critical for him."

"It sucks that he's so sick, but why do your patients always come first?"

"They don't."

Liz stepped back, away from her mother. "Cheerleading isn't like anything else. I can't always see if I'm doing everything right or if I'm jumping high enough. And the coach is too busy watching everyone else. That's why I wanted you."

"I know I let you down."

"You know what other mothers do? They show up to every single practice so they can coach their girls, tell them what they're doing wrong and how to do it better. I'm the only one with no one in the stands rooting for me to do it better."

"Your father comes to watch you practice whenever he can."

"He's been so busy with Zoey and Ellie he hasn't been here in weeks. And when was the last time you came to one of my cheerleading practices?"

"I didn't know you wanted me to. I come to all of your events, Liz. I don't make it to the practices, but I've never missed a ballet recital or a basketball game or anything remotely important."

"To YOU, the practices aren't important."

"That's not what I meant. I didn't even know people go to cheerleading practices."

"They do."

"I would too, if I could. But because I work such crazy hours, I have to depend on your father for those kinds of things."

"When did he become a single parent? He has to work too."

"Is that what you're pissed off about? The practices?"

"I accepted it with the practices. I never complain because I know you're busy and all, but then you can't even sit through a whole game?"

She started to walk away, but Abbey grabbed her arm. "I'll see the stunt at your next game. I'll be there early and I won't move. I swear."

Liz shrugged out of her hold. "I wanted it to be perfect by the next game! I wanted your opinion so I could fix it, just like the other girls will. Their mothers were here and they stayed the whole time..."

Already riddled with the guilt of her own inadequacies, Abbey cut her off. "I haven't slept in 30 hours and I'm here. What does that tell you?"

"That you'd sacrifice your sleep for me, but you'd never sacrifice a call from the hospital," Liz shot back louder than Abbey expected.

"If I sacrifice calls from the hospital, people could die, Elizabeth."

"I just wish you had a normal job! Other mothers care about this. All you care about is how I'm doing in my classes and whether or not I have all the electrons in their proper orbitals. You don't give a damn about anything else that I think is fun!"

"Would you lower your voice?" Abbey snapped. "I'm giving you some space because I know this is my fault, but I'd prefer we not stand here and continue this."

"Then you should have believed me when I said I was fine." Liz brushed by her as she stormed out of the locker room.

TBC 


	14. Chapter 14

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: The hospital cleared Abbey of any wrongdoing in the Bill Niederlander case; Jed and Abbey watched Ellie's soccer game; Abbey missed the beginning of Liz's cheerleading routine even though Liz had asked her to watch for her first stunt; mother and daughter exchanged heated words in the school's locker room

Summary: Abbey tells Jed she was asked to stay on as an attending after her fellowship; Liz apologizes for losing her temper; Abbey surprises Jed and the girls as the family gets ready to leave for Washington for the traditional Nobel laureate trip to the Swedish Embassy

Author's Note: Pre-Nobel "festivities" mentioned in the next couple of chapters were inspired by the diary kept by Nobel Laureate Paul Greengard. Thanks to Daphy for sending it to me!

On the tips of her toes, Abbey rummaged around in the dark for her clothes. When Jed moaned softly and changed positions, she stopped to see if she had waken him, but when he just rolled to his back and dropped his arm off the side of the mattress, she walked towards his sleeping form and tenderly stroked his cheek.

He didn't respond to the warm touch of the back of her hand, so she pressed her finger to the exposed skin on his chest and traced the light sprinkling of hair that shadowed the spot usually concealed by his top three buttons.

Still no response.

Holding her hair behind her neck so it wouldn't fall forward over his face, she leaned in to drop a kiss to his lips. That, he couldn't ignore. He startled her with a jerk, grabbing the back of her head and holding her in place until he was ready to break the passionate liplock several seconds later.

"You were up the whole time," she accused him.

"I'm amused by the way you tried to lure me out of sleep. And, you know, it never occurred to me, but there are times when I wake up for no reason whatsoever. Now I wonder if it's you waking me, then jumping back to feign innocence."

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't dare ask why you do anything, Abbey. I just know you do."

"You should have told me you were awake."

"I wake up when you wake up, Babe. I can feel it the second you leave my bed." He reached for the light and watched as Abbey fooled with the clasp on her bra. "Especially when you're half-naked."

Her movements, though natural and unplanned, were provocative enough to captivate his attention. He laid there, lusting after the curves she kept hidden under the sweatshirt she had just pulled over her head. When she noticed that familiar gaze, she joined him on the edge of the bed.

"If we had time..." she started, teasing him with seductive hands that sprawled out over his chest.

"Don't remind me."

It was going to be hard to go to work today, knowing that after the kids got out of their half-day of school, they would board a plane with their father to Washington, D.C. for the traditional Nobel laureate visit to the Swedish Embassy.

"I hate that you're leaving without me." Abbey's work schedule left little wiggle room for this trip since Sweden was less than a week away, so she was forced to work one last shift and join them in the morning.

"Excuse me?" he replied, incredulous about the implication. "It's not like I had any control over the situation."

"I know, I know. I just don't like flying without you."

"I don't like flying without you either."

With a defeated sigh, she turned to face him. "The girls are going to give you a lot of trouble. Make sure you ask Ellie over and over if she forgot anything because she always does. Zoey's going to want to run around the airport, which is good because you'll want to tire her out anyway. And Elizabeth's going to beg you to wear make-up since she knows I won't be there to see it until tomorrow."

"I wasn't just introduced to these girls yesterday, Hon. I can handle it."

"Famous last words."

"Trust me. Everything will be fine. You just worry about getting out of work on time tomorrow and catching a nap before you have to leave for the airport."

"I'll be fine."

"I hate these long shifts. I don't know what good you could possibly be to any patient when you've been working a straight thirty-six hours."

"I'm only working twenty-four this time." She bent forward to zip her boots.

"Oh, well, that makes all the difference in the world."

"I hate the long shifts too. It's just part of the job."

"Yeah," he replied, still unhappy, but willing to move on to another subject. "Did you talk to Liz last night?"

"No. She was doing homework when I checked on her and by the time she was finished, I was already in bed."

"You could have interrupted her."

"I don't like doing that."

"Abbey." Jed pulled her arm in an effort to get her attention. It worked. "It's Monday. When are you going to talk to her about what happened?"

It was a question Abbey didn't have an answer to. After she missed Liz's cheerleading stunt, tempers flared in the locker room and they later erupted full-force at home. Liz allowed her hurt feelings to dictate her words though her tone softened slightly when Abbey fought her point for point. Deep-rooted guilt provoked Abbey's defensiveness, stirring her frustration until she reacted stronger than even she expected.

Once Jed intervened, the booming voices suddenly faded into a deafening silence. He sent Elizabeth upstairs until she cooled down enough to discuss the situation rationally and, just as he had promised earlier that day, he gave Abbey a massage and piled her exhausted body into bed, leaving the argument between mother and daughter unresolved until later.

And later was fast approaching.

Abbey knew he was Jed right. She wanted to reach out to Liz, but she was disappointed in herself and ashamed to admit she had let her daughter down. "What am I supposed to say?"

"Give her a chance to say something. She owes you an apology and I'm pretty sure she knows that."

"You talked to her?"

"Did you really think I'd let it go?" Jed had a special rapport with Lizzie and from time to time, he used it to run interference for Abbey.

"I lost my temper with her."

"She yelled at you in a locker room full of people then complained all the way home. I would have lost my temper too."

"You did lose your temper," she reminded him. "It was a relief when you stepped in. The fight was getting out of hand and I have no idea what I would have said next. The thing is, it wasn't even that I was angry at her. I was more angry at myself. She was right. She asked me to watch for one particular thing and I screwed it up. I missed it."

"You didn't do it on purpose."

"Does that matter?"

"Yes," he answered without hesitation. "This was one incident. It doesn't define the kind of mother you are. I don't know of a mother more devoted to her children than you, Abbey. You're always there for them when they need you. When Liz had chicken pox, you stayed with her every minute until she got better."

"Yeah, well, that was by default. I caught it from her."

"That's not the point. You were with her from the second she started feeling ill. When the girls are sick, you don't leave their side. Ellie had the flu last year and you used a week's vacation so you could nurse her back to health. Don't even get me started on all the hours you spent pacing the floor in the NICU after Zoey was born. You stay up all night to sew Halloween costumes, you go without sleep so you won't miss a game or a recital, you help them with their homework, their hair, their clothes. No one loves them more than you do."

"I feel like it's not enough."

"Look, it's unfortunate that you missed the stunt, but sometimes, things happen. You're a doctor and when the hospital calls, you have to answer. Liz will learn that the world doesn't stand still just because she wants it to."

"She's fourteen, Jed. It took you a long time to get used to my work and you're a lot older than she is. Sometimes, I think even you still have issues with it. When I stepped out to make that call, you were mad at me, weren't you?"

"I get annoyed that your schedule isn't your own. It's the same argument we've had a million times, Abbey. I know I'm married to a talented surgeon who saves lives every single day. But sometimes, yeah, I am a little selfish."

"Do you ever wish I had a different career?"

He thought about sidestepping the loaded question, but then he looked at her and during that short glance, he realized she already knew the answer. "Sometimes." Abbey let out an uncomfortable sigh. "But when I do, I remind myself that I'm acting like the world's biggest jerk. I knew you wanted to be a doctor when I met you and that was one of the things that made me fall in love with you. Believe me when I say I wouldn't change it for anything in the world."

"Is that the truth?"

"I swear."

"It's been a long road, Jed. Don't think I don't know how much time and patience you've given me to help me through this." Her hand cupped the top of his head, her fingers running through his thick mane of hair. "In less than a year, I'll be done with my training. I'll have a little more flexibility as an attending."

"Do we know where?"

A devilish smirk swelled her cheeks when she replied. "Right here. They asked me to stay on as an attending."

"What?" Jed squirmed to sit up straight. "When?"

"Well, Robert hinted about it when I told him about Kyle, but I wasn't supposed to know until this past Friday."

"Why didn't you tell me when you got home Saturday morning?"

Abbey shrugged. "I was waiting for the right time."

"Right time? Get over here!" He yanked her arm until she fell on top of him. "I love you." His hands framed her face as he brought her in for a kiss.

"I love you too," she said as she reluctantly pulled away a couple minutes later, her hands reaching up to cover his. "I wish I didn't have to go."

"But you do."

"Yeah."

"I'll pick you up at Dulles in the morning?"

"I'll grab a cab."

"I can pick you up."

"I'd rather you spend the time sightseeing with the girls." She stood to leave.

"Yeah, okay. Are you going to meet me at the hotel or the Embassy?"

"The hotel. We'll go to the Embassy together."

Though he wouldn't have made it an issue, he couldn't deny he was relieved. "Good."

"Call me when you get there?"

"Of course. And hey?" He waited until she turned to face him. "Congratulations."

"Thanks. Now try to get some sleep."

Abbey gave him a smile of appreciation before she headed out the door and down a path towards the stairs, intrigued, along the way, by the faint pitter-patter of footsteps coming from the kitchen.

Liz had just returned a carton of milk to the fridge and was carrying a sandwich towards the table when she noticed her mother standing at the entryway. "Hi."

"It's the middle of the night. What are you doing up?"

"I didn't have much dinner, so I was hungry."

"Oh. Do you have everything you need?"

"Yeah. I made one for you too." She picked up a small brown bag and handed it to Abbey. "It's bagged because I figured you'd want to take it with you. It's turkey on rye with lettuce and a smear of mustard, just like you always make it."

"You didn't have to do that."

"I heard you moving around upstairs so I knew you were getting ready to go to work and you always say you hate hospital food, so..."

"That was very thoughtful, Lizzie. Thank you." Abbey fumbled nervously with the top of the bag until she eventually turned it down and set it aside. "We didn't get a chance to talk after..."

"I never said thank you for doing my hair for the game," Liz interjected. "All the girls loved it."

"How about you?"

"I loved it too. It was really pretty. So thank you."

"You're welcome." Abbey smiled.

As she pulled out her chair to sit down, Liz added softly, "And I'm sorry I yelled."

"I'm sorry I walked out of the gym to make that call. I shouldn't have."

"It's not like you missed the whole routine. You saw most of it." When Abbey took the seat across from her, Liz glanced at the clock on the wall. "Don't you have to go to work?"

Abbey didn't even look at her watch. This was more important. "I can be a little late."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then how was it? The routine?" It was asked with a certain bit of apprehension. Liz bit down on her bottom lip while she waited for the opinion that meant more to her than anyone else's.

"It was good," Abbey said. "No, actually, it was excellent."

"What can I do better?" It was obvious she wanted more feedback. Not just an answer peppered with compliments, but constructive and helpful advice on how she could improve.

"You looked like a pro out there," Abbey began. "Your basket toss was flawless, but you need to stick your dismount. Also, your legs were shaky on your double hook. You have to keep them strong and firm."

"You caught that?" Liz raised her right brow. "Even the coach didn't catch that!"

"What, did you think I wasn't looking at you - and only you - the whole time?"

"I didn't know you knew the cheerleading lingo."

"I may not have been at the practices, but that doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention when you and your friends practiced in the backyard a few weeks ago."

"You watched us? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to think I was spying. I'm not around as much as you'd like, but when I am, I try to catch up on what's going on with you, what you're doing. Sometimes, that means watching from the sidelines when you're practicing outside or when you're at the barn, feeding the horses, or traipsing around my room, stealing my make-up so you can try it on in your own room even though you and I both know you're not allowed to wear it yet."

Liz grinned bashfully. "If you know I do that, how come I don't get in trouble for it?"

"It's pretty harmless as long as you don't wear it outside the house. Besides, when I was your age, I was doing the same exact thing. But now that we're on the subject, I expect my eyeliner will be returned to me before you go to school today."

"Sorry."

Abbey gave her a lighthearted smile. "It's all right."

"So if you watched us practice, then you know I've never been able to get my legs perfect on the double hook. I do it fine in front of the coach, but when I'm doing the whole routine, I miss something."

"You just have to do it over and over. I don't know that much about cheerleading, but I'll try to help you if you want me to."

"You will?"

"As soon as we get back from Stockholm."

"That would be great!"

Her eyes, shining with excitement, grew so wide that it warmed Abbey's heart. She hadn't been able to elicit that kind of response in quite a while. It helped to relieve some of her regrets, but the remorse that had been building for a decade wasn't to be dislodged that easily.

Abbey could still remember Lizzie's reaction to her first week of medical school. Only three years old, the toddler was playfully distracted in the morning, but around mid-afternoon, she repeatedly asked for her mother, confused as to why Abbey had suddenly disappeared.

She cried for two hours that day until Jed was finally able to put her down for a nap. By the time Abbey came home that evening, Jed had occupied Lizzie with a puzzle and a game of Candyland. When he told his wife how much Liz had missed her, it left Abbey with a sharp pang of guilt, one that, all the years later, still hadn't gone away.

She walked behind her teenage daughter and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Thank you for the sandwich, Baby Doll. I can call you that at home, can't I?" Liz nodded. "Good. After you finish your snack, go back to bed, okay?"

And with those words, Abbey left, again. It was so tempting to cast aside her responsibilities and take the day off, but she knew she couldn't do that. This was the career she had chosen. Once she could establish a solid practice, her schedule would be less burdensome. The girls would eventually reap the benefits of her lucrative skills while she did what she enjoyed doing most - saving lives.

In the meantime, she blocked those pesky doubts that riddled her soul and latched on to the hope that Elizabeth, Ellie, and Zoey would understand that although they had to share her with her patients, in her heart, no one would ever come before her family. Of course, she was certain they'd be more willing to believe the sentiment if she could join them on that plane to D.C., but that was a thought that seemed like an impossibility at 3 a.m.

Fortunately, just a few hours later, a little luck floated her way. Robert Nolan showered her with good news during pre-op rounds.

"What are you so happy about?" Abbey asked him suspiciously.

"I'm just glad to be the one to break the news."

"What news?"

"The Chief decided to have a word with Dr. Nelson and it seems that afterwards, a resident who heard the story through the hospital rumormill, came forward with a claim of harassment. Two nurses and one intern followed."

"Are you serious? This isn't a joke?" She couldn't hide the delightful grin that curved her lips. Finally, she had some help in battling Kyle Nelson.

"It's not a joke. The Chief wants to see you at 9 a.m. Also, he and I rearranged your schedule to get you out of here by 5 o'clock this evening." Speechless, Abbey stared at him. "The trip to Washington. You've been talking about it for weeks."

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be leaving tomorrow."

"Well, now you can leave tonight."

"Okay, this has never happened before in the entire time I've been working here. What's going on?"

His sincerity clear in the way he looked at her, Robert replied, "It's not every day your husband gets a Nobel Prize."

"Robert?"

"You've put up with a lot lately with the Niederlander case and then with Dr. Nelson. Let's just say I noticed. The Chief agreed we could afford to spare you for a few hours this evening while you go spend time with your family."

"A few hours? I was scheduled for a 24-hour shift that ends tomorrow morning."

"It's covered," Robert assured her. "Have a good flight and a Happy Thanksgiving. Take plenty of pictures in Sweden and wish your youngest daughter a Happy Birthday."

"You remembered it was Zoey's birthday?"

"I remember everything." She stared at him sternly, unfooled by his declaration. "I asked why you weren't scheduled on Friday and they told me."

"That's just her party. Her real birthday..."

"Is next week. The same day you request off every year. See, I keep track of what goes on around here. So when I tell you that we can spare you tonight, I mean it. Now get some work done before I change my mind!"

She walked past him, graciously whispering, "You're a good friend."

Just after five, Abbey rushed home to pick up her suitcase and head to Manchester Airport. She had tampered with the idea of telling Jed and the girls to wait for her, but decided that surprising them in D.C. was a much better plan.

As she swung open the front door to the farmhouse and sprinted up the stairs, an image she caught out of the corner of her eye, stopped her dead in her tracks. She came back down, strolling leisurely towards the flower-filled glass vase that sat abandoned on the half-moon wood console in the foyer. Jed had placed it there so it would be the first thing she'd see.

A card dangled from a bouquet of red and white roses with a note that simply read, "Congratulations on the job offer, Dr. Bartlet. We love you."

Abbey held the card against her chest, inhaling a deep breath as she took a moment to close her eyes and count her blessings. Imagining Jed's shocked expression in a few hours when she showed up at the hotel, snapped her back to the present.

"They haven't even arrived yet," she mumbled, looking down at her watch.

And so began a race to the airport to exchange her ticket and snatch a seat on the next flight before her family had a chance to acknowledge her absence. Little did she know Jed and the girls hadn't even left New Hampshire yet.

"Mommy!" Ellie yelled as she ran out of the boarding line when she saw Abbey sprinting towards the gate, clutching a Barbie purse in her hand.

"What are you still doing here?"

The grateful eight-year-old took the purse. "You brought it with you! I forgot it at home."

"Yes, you did and your father was supposed to make sure that didn't happen." Abbey greeted Jed with a sly smile as he, Liz, and a sleeping Zoey joined Abbey and Ellie.

"Why aren't you at work?" he asked.

"Why haven't you left yet?"

"We missed our flight because we had to turn around to get Ellie's suitcase."

"You forgot your suitcase too?" The little girl dropped her eyes to the floor, looking up only when it was clear that Abbey wasn't actually annoyed with her. She was just teasing.

"She forgot her hairbrush as well," Jed added. "I had to buy her a new one at the gift shop. You can see why I refused to go back home for the purse."

"This wouldn't have happened if you had just asked her before you left."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay, it's your turn. Why aren't you working?"

"Robert fixed it so I could leave tonight."

"You're going with us?" Liz asked, overjoyed at the possibility.

"It looks like it. And by the way, I saw the flowers."

"It was Daddy's idea!" Ellie informed her. "Do you like them?"

"I LOVE them! What a sweet and beautiful surprise!"

Jed kept one hand on Zoey's stroller and placed his other hand on the small of Abbey's back as he ushered her towards the line. "You know, I accepted the fact that you had to work, but seeing you here made me realize just how unhappy I was that you weren't going to be on that plane."

"You have no idea how many times I thought about calling in sick."

"About as many times as I thought about asking you to call in sick?"

An adoring smile touched her lips after she laughed. "Thank you."

"For the flowers?"

"Not just the flowers. Thank you for putting up with the craziness for all these years."

He reached down to slide his palm into hers, making sure to run his hand across the wedding band on her ring finger. "I've been amply rewarded."

They both knew it was possible that, in the future, the situation would be reversed. The Nobel Prize was the highlight of Jed's academic career thus far, and that international recognition was likely to lead to a whirlwind of opportunities.

Abbey vowed that when the time came, she'd never forget the patience he had shown during her years in residency and fellowship. She was convinced that one day, Jed would need her support as much as she had needed his.

And that was a gift she promised to return.

TBC 


	15. Chapter 15

Rated: NC-17 for sex

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 15

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Abbey told Jed about the job offer to stay on as an attending after her fellowship; Liz apoogized to Abbey; Abbey surprised Jed and the girls at the airport after they thought she would have to work all night; the Bartlets left for Washington, D.C. for the traditional Nobel laureate trip to the Swedish Embassy

Summary: Ellie and Lizzie begin planning the itinerary when the Bartlets arrive in Washington; Jed and Abbey have a late-night encounter; Jed is surprised with an unexpected question

Author's Note: Other items mentioned in this chapter: the Boston bussing storyline is from an earlier story in this series - Endings and Beginnings; the reference to the AIDS legislation is from Chapter 16 of On My Honor. Both stories can be found on this site.

"When can we go to the Smithsonian?"

Before the seventeenth-floor elevator doors opened, Liz and Ellie began scheduling the activities. The Bartlets had been to Washington, D.C. in the past, but it had been at least five years since the last time they stopped there for a weekend detour during a trip to Shenandoah National Park. Ellie was too young to remember and by now, Liz had practically forgotten.

"Can we go to the Smithsonian tomorrow, Dad?" Liz asked.

"My teacher said the top of the Washington Monument is made out of aluminum and if you go all the way up there, you can see the whole city!" Ellie added.

"I also want to walk around the National Mall if we have time," Liz interjected. "Do you think we'll have time?"

Carrying his suitcase in one hand and Abbey's bag in the other, Jed led the pack, walking briskly down the narrow hall until he arrived at their hotel room. "If you guys get to bed and wake up bright and early, we may have time to do all the things you want to do and still get to some of the places I'm actually required to go."

"Can we also visit the Air and Space Museum, Daddy?"

He stared into his eight-year-old daughter's curious eyes and said, "Of course we can, if we have time."

"And even if we don't have time, you won't be the one to say no to her, will you?" Abbey muttered as she pushed Zoey in her stroller and crossed in front of him to enter their room.

"Nope," Jed unapologetically admitted.

Liz and Ellie dropped their coats during the race towards the windows in the spacious suite. They pulled the blinds to see the glittering city below. A restless Zoey squirmed until Abbey lifted her out of her stroller and allowed her to see the spectacle that had clearly dominated the attention of her sisters.

Jed stood behind the foursome. His arm was draped over Abbey's shoulder and he listened attentively as she pointed out the twinkling lights that marked a path down the length of the National Mall to the dome of the U.S. Capitol.

From their vantage point, it was only a speck in the night, but like a little girl on Christmas morning, Ellie was impressed nonetheless. "Where does the President live?"

"In the White House," Lizzie answered.

"I know that, Lizzie! Duh! Where's the White House?"

"You can't see the White House from here, Sweetheart," Jed replied.

"I bet we could see a lot more if we went outside!"

Her hand grabbing her middle daughter's wrist, Abbey stopped her from opening the balcony's sliding glass door. "Don't you dare! It's way too cold out there!"

"But I wanna see if I can see Washington Monument from here!"

"Not without your coat. Besides, it's late. You can see everything you want to see in the morning."

The girls reluctantly went to bed that night, grumbling that they'd have to wait until morning to explore the sights that had mesmerized them from their perch high above Capital City.

When the girls were snuggled in their beds in the main room, Abbey headed to the bedroom where she and Jed would sleep. She slipped out of her jeans and sweatshirt and pulled a black satin nightgown over her head. The fabric fell loosely around her figure, held in place by thin spaghetti straps that kept the top of her low-cut neckline dangling just above the slope of her breasts.

Jed laid on his side in bed, his hand tucked under his cheek as he watched her in the mirror while she brushed her dark auburn locks. "Is your hair wavier than usual?"

Abbey turned to face him. "No."

"I like it when you wear it wavy."

"It's not all that wavy."

"It's beautiful tonight."

With a smile, she threw the brush on the dresser and sauntered over to the mattress. "You like it?"

"I always like it, but tonight...I don't know, tonight, you just look so alluring."

Jed held out a hand to her and pulled her into bed. She cuddled up to him in a way that allowed her to feel his masculine muscles pushing up against her until she fell flat on her back. He crawled on top of her, his legs now straddling her hips.

"You didn't tell me you were in the mood for some fun tonight," she teased him.

"I'm always in the mood." He ran his fingers across her rosy cheeks, the tips outlining her lips when he approached them. "I'm just so happy you're with me tonight."

"You hated the idea of me arriving to meet you tomorrow."

"I really did."

"You could have complained."

He shook his head. "Making you feel guilty wouldn't have done either one of us any good."

Her eyes, trapped in a smoldering haze of desire, sparkled brighter tonight. They were overflowing with love as they scanned his handsome features. "You really are a prince, Jed Bartlet."

His hands played with her hair as he leaned forward. His toes rubbed the smooth skin of her legs. Abbey unlocked the fingers clasped behind his neck to allow them to thread his thick brown hair, curling over every strand, tugging gently in response to the sweet touch of his lips on her shoulder.

He was so heavy on top of her petite form that she could hear his heart beat against her chest, could feel the rapid breaths that expanded his lungs between the kisses he dropped on her body. She was wiggling now, unable to hide the feelings that fired pulsating shockwaves throughout her most delicate areas. When his hands wandered between her legs, Abbey's head tipped back against her pillow and she succumbed to a moan so deep that Jed knew he hit the right spot.

Refusing to stop, he stretched his head so he could reach her before she uttered another sound and whispered softly, "I love you," then covered her mouth with his.

It was a romantic move, one that she would never resist even though she knew there was an ulterior motive behind the gesture. Jed usually loved to listen to her while he drove her out of her mind, but to avoid waking the girls, they had to be quiet, so if a marathon of endless kisses would intercept the natural moans that escaped their bodies while they made love, she'd gladly go along. 

Without ever breaking contact with her husband's lips, Abbey's hands fell to his pants. She untied the drawstring in one swift motion, then pushed them to the bottom of her feet where her toes wriggled to free his ankles of the twisted fabric. Jed lifted the bottom of her nightgown to her belly. His tongue trailed just behind those magical fingers and she squirmed in anticipation as his warm breath traced the sexy lace at the top of her panties.

She arched her back to raise her hips so he could hook his fingers to the sides of the undergarment and slide them down her legs. She wanted more, so much more, but Jed had paused to explore the soft skin of her inner thighs.

Abbey sat up far enough to lift his chin. "None of the other stuff tonight. I just want you. I need you."

Jed smiled as he laid her back down and pushed her legs further apart to probe the area first. Just as she said, she was ready. And now, so was he. He didn't hesitate a moment longer. Tearing himself free of his silky boxers, he guided himself to her entrance and penetrated her. Slowly. Diligently. Abbey wrapped herself so tightly around him that he could feel her heels digging into his rear. Her legs crossed at the ankles and she repeatedly raised them higher to encourage him to penetrate deeper.

At first, she defined his pace, but Jed soon took charge. He surrendered their kisses to sit up and place his hand across her stomach, stilling her for just one moment. He abruptly withdrew, then pushed inside her much faster than Abbey expected. She gasped as his hands untangled her ankles from where they had landed on his lower back. His nails dug into the skin under her knees where he was gripping her legs, holding them firmly in the air so he could push them up towards her chest while he buried himself between her thighs. His body moved directly above her to give her the friction she so desperately wanted.

He grinded into her with such force that the headboard rattled behind her. Neither of them noticed. The possibility of waking the girls had suddenly been forgotten and the only thing that mattered now was finding the fastest route towards a gratifying completion.

Tiny beads of sweat dampened Abbey's forehead, trickling down into her eyebrows or falling to the side to disappear into her auburn waves. Her legs were trembling. Twitching really. From her curling toes to the muscles of her inner thighs, she spasmed as she called out his name.

Jed lowered his mouth to her exposed neck while he continued to hold her legs, not to keep them in place, for he knew she was enjoying this far too much to relinquish the position. His stationary hands served a much greater purpose now - they gave him the leverage he needed to move inside her with the meticulous control necessary to poke at the spot that rendered her breathless.

Abbey clawed at his back. Jed's top absorbed the scratches, but she clutched to the material so strongly that it only made him thrust harder, and with each impassioned thrust came a new wave of sensations that tingled the sensitive flesh between her legs.

Her muscles contracted and her feminine walls kept tightening around him, bringing him to the verge of ecstasy over and over and over and over again until the twisting and writhing that came from her climax shattered his restraint and he exploded inside her.

He laid there, his head buried in Abbey's shoulder to muffle the frantic panting that followed. Abbey stroked his back while she struggled to regain her composure. After several minutes, Jed lifted himself up, lowered her nightgown over her hips, and swept her face free of the intruding strands of hair that clung to her skin.

"I love you," she said as he rolled to her side, slipping his arm under her head to cradle her in a warm embrace.

"I love you too." Jed kissed her forehead, holding her closer as they drifted off to sleep.

By 7 a.m., sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains that secured the blinds. Still enveloped in Jed's arms, Abbey stirred and slowly opened her eyes to see him snoring gingerly beside her. He was so cute when he was sound asleep. He looked so innocently adorable that It almost made her feel guilty for waking him. Almost.

She sprinkled his face with featherlight kisses. When he began to move, she greeted him. "Good morning."

Jed let out a grouchy yawn as he stretched his arms over his head. "Why is it that, lately, when you're up, I have to be up too?"

"Just one of the perks of being married to me, Gumdrop."

"I don't like this new habit of yours. We're going to have to snap you out of it. What time is it?"

"It's just after seven. If we want to take the girls sight-seeing before we leave for the Embassy, we need to get moving."

"Is it too much to hope for a day of sleeping in while on vacation?"

"I feel completely safe in saying yes. Besides, this is a working vacation, Babe. We have places to go and people to see. Do me a favor and wake the girls? I'm going to jump in the shower."

Jed couldn't deny that a few lost hours of sleep were worth it to follow the itinerary of the day - breakfast and a little sight-seeing with his daughters, followed by a trip to the Swedish Embassy, a press conference shortly after, and an afternoon visit to the White House. Tomorrow, he was to be honored at a banquet for the American laureates and their spouses and the day after that, the family would return to Manchester for Thanksgiving at the farm and a special celebration for Zoey's third birthday before leaving for Stockholm.

It was going to be a good week.

He rose cheerfully from his bed, sliding his feet into a pair of slippers as he reached for his robe. The ringing phone stopped his progress immediately.

"Hello?" He answered, his voice still groggy. "Yes, this is he." His brows furrowed while listening to the voice on the other end. "When?" He glanced down at his watch. "That doesn't give me much time." His mind racing with possibilities, he ran his hand through his hair. "No, it's fine. I'll be there. Do I just go to...yeah, okay. I got it."

Curiously rubbing his forehead, he rushed to the bathroom. "Abbey!"

"What?" she replied from behind the shower curtain.

"Make room. I'm coming in." Jed stripped himself of his robe and kicked off his slippers. "You'll have to take the girls out to breakfast. Maybe take them for a walk around the National Mall like Lizzie wanted to do."

"Why are you talking like you won't be joining us?"

"I can't. I have to leave in a few minutes."

Abbey held back the curtain to help him step into the tub. "Where are you going?

"I've been summoned to the Capitol."

"Summoned? Who summoned you?"

"The Majority Leader. His assistant just called."

"Majority Leader of the Senate?"

"No, actually, the House."

"What for?" She poured shampoo into her palm, then massaged it through his hair.

"Probably political strategizing for the upcoming State House session. Congressman Bradley's been leaning on state legislators for the past two years to get us ready for the next wave of Head Start budget cuts, so it's possible they're introducing national legislation or something...I don't know. I don't know what it's about. But I have to go, which means you'll be on your own this morning. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Just remember we have to be at the Embassy by noon."

"I know."

Jed arrived at the Capitol full of questions that morning. Though he had visited this building unofficially in the past, this time was different. Call it instinct. Call it intuition. Whatever it was lurking inside told him from the second he passed those stone pillars that this time, he was there for something important.

He couldn't stop the chill that ran up his spine as he waited to be called into Congressman Floyd's office. Among other framed photographs that adorned the wall of the Congressman's waiting area, was one of Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. If ever there was a man who knew the secret to political strategy, it was Speaker O'Neill. He could fight for what he wanted, relentlessly arguing the points, devoid of anger or bitterness.

He'd win in the press and that, as Jed had already learned, was half the battle.

"Dr. Bartlet, the Congressman will see you now."

The voice was almost jarring, snapping Jed out of a daydream even he didn't understand. For a split second, he wondered how it would feel to be working in this building, to be affecting change just as he did in his home state, but on a broader scale. Side by side with Speaker O'Neill, he'd be exposed to the ins and outs of professional politics on the road to becoming a recognizable figure in public service.

It was a nice vision, but an unrealistic one, he thought as he walked in to meet Congressman Floyd.

"Dr. Bartlet, thanks for coming. Have a seat," the older man instructed. "I assume you'll be going to the Embassy later this morning?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And the White House after that?" Jed nodded. "Probably a photo-op with President Reagan?"

"They didn't mention that."

"It's tradition. Every year, the Nobel Laureates are paraded through the White House and every year, they get their pictures taken with the sitting President, so get ready to meet a political nemesis."

Jed chuckled lightheartedly. "Yours or mine?"

"Both of ours. It's not like he won't know you're a democrat. You're pretty popular in New Hampshire."

"That's New Hampshire, not Washington."

"Believe me, Jed..." he took a sip of his water and continued, "May I call you Jed?"

"Of course."

"Believe me, Jed, there's not a soul in the political game who won't know you as a Democrat the second you open your mouth. Your opinions are pretty strong, your command of the language is impeccable. When you speak, I'm captivated by what you have to say."

"You've heard me speak?"

"I've read the transcripts of a few of your speeches on the floor of the New Hampshire State House. I was particularly impressed by the one you gave when you opposed a proposal to restrict homosexual doctors from invasively treating patients. It was about a year ago."

"That was a ridiculous notion."

"Yes, it was, but it was introduced before AIDS had a name. People were panicking and believe it or not, there was a lot of pretty ridiculous legislation making its way through the system at that time. Hell, there still is. Many people still don't believe AIDS isn't a gay disease."

"Ignorance only breeds fear."

"Yes, it does. And because you fought against it, you caught our attention back then. You didn't know that?"

"No, I didn't."

The Congressman pulled out a binder and began flipping through the pages. "I had a few assistants collect these old newspaper clippings. You were working at Northeastern University in the early 70s?"

"Yeah. My wife was in medical school at Harvard."

"You were in Boston during the mandatory bussing debacle. Your daughter got hurt in a school bus accident related to the riots that broke out all over the city. Is that right?"

"Yes. My oldest, Elizabeth. She was six years old at the time. She was hurt when protesters caused her bus to crash." Even after all these years, Jed still got a bit teary remembering Lizzie's wounds.

"Hurt badly?"

"She broke her nose, she was cut by shattering glass, and she ended up with a few scrapes and bruises from falling out of her seat, but overall, we were lucky, thank God." Jed returned the Congressman's smile. "She's pretty resilient though. To be honest, I think her mother and I were more of a mess than she was throughout the whole incident."

"That accident really motivated you. Afterwards, you began a movement overturn mandatory bussing because of the dangers these protesters posed to the children. You went against the recommendations - and the orders - of the school board."

"I understood why it was necessary to desegregate the public schools, but the way the community responded...I just didn't feel the kids should have to pay the price for the bigotry of the adults."

"You set up makeshift elementary school classes at Northeastern and you and your colleagues taught the kids there at night?"

"It wasn't just elementary school. We taught junior high and some high school classes as well. We had a different professor teaching each grade. The longer it went on, the more students and professors we recruited until the school board and the city council finally agreed to drop the policy." Jed took a breath and asked, "I'm sorry, I don't understand why we're talking about this."

"It's part of your history. You took matters into your own hands and advocated for change. You won that fight. The situation in Boston is the first time, to my knowledge, you made national news. It led to your job at Dartmouth and to the New Hampshire Democratic Party recruiting you to run for state office, didn't it?"

"Yeah."

"And at the State House, you established a voting record that I think you could sell anywhere in this country. That, along with your PhD. from the London School of Economics, your career as a professor, your surgeon wife and three young daughters, and now, your Nobel Prize for research on international economic expansion, makes you a pretty attractive choice."

Jed looked on as Floyd turned the page to an article that showed Jed and Abbey walking hand-in-hand out of a Boston City Council and School Committee meeting. "Choice for what?"

"I realize we just had an election a few weeks ago, but it's never too soon to plan for the next one. So, we've been pondering this for weeks and we want to know what would you say if I asked you to consider running for office. I'm not talking about state legislator."

"What exactly are you talking about?"

"Bradley's retiring in 1984. If we want to keep the majority in the House of Representatives, we need that district in New Hampshire. We need a strong candidate, a leader with the experience, the resume, the charm, the people skills, and the all-American family, to run for his seat."

"And you want me to do it?"

"Not just me. I'm just the guy they sent in here. I'm asking on behalf of the New Hampshire DNC, the D-triple-C - that's the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in case you don't know all the lingo yet - the Speaker of the House, and Congressman Bradley himself. We want you."

"For the U.S. House of Representatives?"

"That's right. What do you say? You up for it?"

TBC 


	16. Chapter 16

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 16

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed and Abbey slept in each other's arms after a night of lovemaking; Jed was summoned to the Capitol, where, on behalf of the New Hampshire DNC, the DCCC, and the Speaker, House Majority Leader Floyd asked him to run for the House of Representatives in 1984

Summary: Jed considers the Congressman's offer; Jed decides that he can't go to Washington without Abbey; Abbey, unintentionally, derails Jed's plans

Jed remained perfectly silent as he allowed the words to sink in to his head. Congressman Floyd noticed his perplexed expression and the subtle twitching of his mouth as if he was struggling to find a reply, any reply, that could adequately convey his thoughts.

The ticking of the small wall clock above the Congressman's desk was the only sound heard for several minutes while both men stared at one another. Eventually, Floyd broke the silence.

"Well? What do you think?"

Jed fidgeted in his seat, initially crossing his legs then uncrossing them seconds later. "I...I don't know what I think. I'm going to have to...there's a lot to consider."

"Absolutely."

"My wife is a doctor. She just finished her fellowship and has already been offered a position at her hospital. It's one of the best in the country, so I don't know if she'll want to pick up and move. And my two older daughters are in school. I don't know how they'll feel about moving to DC, leaving their friends. Especially Lizzie. She's in her freshman year of high school."

"Jed..." the Congressman dropped his gaze as he continued. "The idea wasn't to move your family necessarily."

"I was afraid you'd say that." Jed stood up, circling around his chair nervously.

"You have to keep your residence in your home district."

"I know. And if I keep my family there, then it'll be easier for me come reelection time, right? If they come to D.C. with me, then voters will accuse me of being out of touch with their needs."

"You know your politics."

"I won't let politics dictate my life. If we decide to do this and if Abbey decides to stay in New Hampshire, it'll be a personal choice, not a political one." He rested his hands on the back of his chair, leaning forward slightly. "What am I even saying? There's no way I can do this. There's no way I can leave my wife and my girls in Manchester and serve in Washington. It's a ridiculous notion."

"Well, they could move with you, if that's what you want to do. Some people - very few - find that a better solution. I just want to warn you that it will come up if..."

"If I want to run for another term."

"That's right. Why don't you talk it over with your wife. I don't need a decision right now. Think about it, that's all I'm asking."

A flurry of questions invaded Jed's mind, but there was nothing he could ask now, nothing he felt comfortable divulging before fully embracing the idea with a rational train of thought. He extended an arm to shake the Congressman's hand and with that friendly gesture, he promised to inform him of his decision before the Christmas holidays.

The walk back to the hotel flew by in a flash. Before he knew it, he had arrived at the empty suite, tripping over Ellie's slippers as he entered through the main room and headed to the balcony. The wind was picking up and it was getting colder in Capital City. Jed relaxed his palms on the metal railing and stared out to catch a glimpse of the National Mall as he allowed the tension to escape his rigid limbs.

Finally, the shadows of a smile crept across his lips and he succumbed to the possibilities. They wanted him. The DCCC, the New Hampshire DNC, the House Majority Leader, Speaker O'Neill, and New Hampshire Congressman Joe Bradley - they all wanted him to serve in the United States House of Representatives. An opportunity was dangling before him and his only dilemma was whether or not to grasp it before it was savagely ripped away and given to someone else.

But he couldn't make up his mind yet. Not alone. There was one other person who needed to be told. He couldn't do this without Abbey. He wouldn't even entertain the possibility if she wasn't willing to move with him. At the same time, he refused pressure her to give up her dream so that she could support him.

She was the deciding factor.

Maybe she'd be happy about this, he thought. It took virtually no time to convince himself that he was underestimating her. Abbey would be thrilled, he now believed. She'd jump into his arms and plant a dozen kisses on his face while she urged him to do it.

"What's there to think about?" she would probably say, arguing that every moment spent on debating the issue was a moment stolen from planning his campaign.

The thought of her reaction warmed his heart so much that he found himself repeating the conversation he conjured up over and over again until he heard the door open and saw Abbey and girls come wandering inside.

"DADDY!" Ellie yelled for him. "We got to go on a carousel!"

"You did?" Jed replied with a combination of shock and wonder as he came in off the balcony.

"Yeah! Right in the middle of the National Mall! It was SO much fun!"

"I go too, Daddy," Zoey added as she toddled over to him, her arms raised so he could pick her up.

"Did you have fun too, Sweetheart?" The two-year-old emphatically nodded. "Well, I'm jealous. You know how much I like carousels."

"Then I think we should go back," Lizzie suggested, smiling as she set down a big bag of souvenirs. "There were a few things I didn't get to see."

"She means a few things she didn't get to buy," Abbey corrected, teasing her oldest daughter before she turned to address Jed. "Next to the Jefferson Memorial was a street vendor selling plastic sunglasses for 80 dollars."

"They were not plastic, Mom."

"The handle broke when he picked it up, Lizzie."

"Okay, so they weren't the best, but I really do need some new ones. I left mine at home."

"And like I said, we'll get you a new pair. Why don't you go downstairs and try on the ones they have in the gift shop?"

"That sounds like a more reasonable idea," Jed agreed.

"Can I have a pair too?" Ellie asked, excited.

"You can have a pair too," Jed assured her. "How much are they?"

"Twelve dollars," Liz answered.

Jed pulled out a wad of cash, but before handing it over to his eager daughters, he pointed his narrow stare at Ellie. "Okay, Ellie, they're twelve dollars a piece and we want two of them. Tell me how much would you need to buy two pairs of sunglasses downstairs?"

"Twenty-four dollars!" she shouted immediately.

"Very good!"

Abbey stepped out from behind Jed and posed a new question. "Now say your dad and I told you to find a pair for Zoey as well. Assuming, they're all twelve dollars, how much money would you need then?"

"Ummm..."

Jed and Abbey exchanged a proud glance as Ellie pondered the situation.

"Ummm." Her index finger pressed to her chin, the little girl's eyes twinkled when she figured it out. "Thirty-six dollars!"

"Great job, El!" Liz exclaimed.

"See? You even impressed Lizzie with that one!" Jed gave Liz forty dollars. "Would you mind taking Zoey with you?"

"I don't mind. She's been pretty good all day." The teen approached the toddler. "Come on, Zoey."

As Liz ushered her sisters out of the room, Jed put an arm on Abbey's waist and twirled her around. She faced him, instantly letting her hands fall into a tight clasp behind his neck.

"I can't believe how quickly you taught her her multiplication tables."

"She's a quick learner." He untangled her fingers so he could slip his hand into hers when her arms fell to her side. "Did you have fun this morning?"

"I would have had more fun if you had been with us. By the way, what did the Majority Leader what?"

"He was wondering if we're enjoying our stay in Washington," Jed replied jokingly.

"Seriously." She returned his grin.

"Seriously, I want to ask you something."

"What?"

He let out an anxious breath before approaching the subject. "Is everything set for next year?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is Dartmouth-Hitchcock a sure thing? Is it what you want to do? You're happy there?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You had expressed an interest in Boston Mercy not too long ago. Also, Brigham and Women's Hospital. And that's just in New England. Who knows what other hospitals might interest you other places in the country."

"Other places in the country? Why? Are we planning on moving?"

"I'm just wondering if you're certain you want to work at DHMC."

"I am. I love the people I work with. Robert Nolan has been great. So has everyone else. My colleagues, the residents, the other surgeons, and the nurses...you know, nurses don't always get the credit, but they're the backbone of our cardiopulmonary wing."

"So I've heard."

"I'm really enjoying the work I'm doing. For the time being, yeah, I'm sure I want to work at DHMC."

"What if you were offered a job some place else? Would you take it?"

"That's a loaded question. I don't understand why you're asking me these things. Has something happened?"

"I'm just trying to gauge your commitment to where you are."

"Then let me make it easy for you. I love where I am and I'm committed to my job. Again, why are you asking me this? Has something come up?"

"You're a thoracic surgeon. You have many, many opportunities. I don't want you to limit yourself just because you think I wouldn't want to leave New Hampshire."

Abbey looked at him with an adoring flash of gratitude. "I love New Hampshire. It's where we raised our girls, where we made our home. It's where we belong."

"I'm glad you feel that way." The sentiment filled him with a sense of pride, but despite his efforts to conceal the more troubling feelings, Jed couldn't deny her words provoked a twinge of disappointment.

"You know the best part?" She placed his hand on her back and wrapped herself into his embrace. "I get to work only a few minutes away from your office. Next year, I'll be done with my training. No more 36-hour shifts. No more overnights. My hours will be much better and I intend to take advantage of that."

"Yeah?" That certainly piqued his interest.

She traced his facial features with her fingers. "I'm thinking lunch every afternoon. Most days, we could drive to work together, drive home together, cook dinner together. Do all those little things we rarely get to do now."

Suddenly, Jed started to picture lazy Sunday afternoons wrapped in each others arms, reading on the sofa or that hammock he always meant to put up in the back yard. He thought about a moonlight swim in the pool or a relaxing dip in the hot tub, an elegant dinner inside their heated gazebo, walking hand-in-hand on late-night walks through the apple orchard. There were no memories more precious than the family picnics by the pond or the girls gathering around to make homemade ice cream on a hot summer day or gooey red candyapples for Halloween.

Those were the images that raced through his head. But the farm would still be there for family vacations. Weren't they capable of making a home away from the farm, he silently questioned. The only thing that was clear to him now was that he wasn't prepared to move to D.C. alone. Abbey and the girls had to be on-board in order for this to work. If they were together, then they could make a slew of new memories wherever they went.

"You know, if you wanted to, it is possible to do those things some place other than New Hampshire," he said. "What if we both got jobs some place else? Like Boston?"

She stepped out of the hug, eyeing him suspiciously. "Jed? Do you have a job offer in Boston you'd like to tell me about?"

"No. No. I was just using Boston as an example. I'm asking, is it New Hampshire you like or is it us being together?"

"Both. It gets me through the day knowing that you're so close by. But I like Dartmouth-Hitchcock. It's a top tier hospital. I've already accepted the job and the reason I did that is because it's an honor to work there. It's a world-renowned institution, not just in clinical care, but research too. I don't want to work anywhere else. I can't even imagine applying anywhere else, Jed. I wouldn't leave it for anything in the world."

And those were the magic words that crushed Jed's hopes.

"I know how prestigious it is, Abbey," he replied.

"Then how could you think I'd want to leave? I know I mentioned other hospitals in the past, but that was during training. Now that I was offered a full-time position at DHMC, how could I turn it down?"

"You shouldn't, of course."

"But do you want me to? Because if you do, then I think we should talk about it."

Jed battled his conscience, wanting to tell her the news, but shying away for fear that it would lead to a conversation he wasn't sure he wanted to have just yet. Or even worse, that Abbey, already feeling guilty about the time she spent away from him over the past seven years of residency, would support him, not out of love, but out of a sense of obligation.

When he didn't respond, Abbey prodded him. "Jed, what aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing." It was obvious she was being guided by a different vision for their future, one that wasn't even close to his. He wasn't about to shatter her dream just because of one random meeting that had the potential to alter the course of both of their lives. "Nothing," he repeated.

"Why do I get the feeling that isn't the truth?"

"Abbey, seriously, I was just fantasizing. I mean, haven't you ever thought about doing something crazy? Haven't you ever wanted to throw caution to the wind and take a chance, go some place new, experience new things in a new setting?"

"Well, if that's what's on your mind, I can promise you that starting next year, we can travel a lot more." That's not exactly what he had in mind. Jed shook his head as she continued. "Forget the three-day trips to the national parks. We can spend as long as you want wherever you want. I'll have a lot more flexibility next year and I'll be making a lot more money so we can afford to do all those things we'd consider an extravagance now."

"We make decent money now."

"I know we do. I just mean I'll be contributing a lot more financially. I wasn't trying to imply that...I'm just saying..."

"Yeah, I know. I know what you're saying."

"You pick the destination and we'll go, Jed. Wherever you want for however long you want."

"Not really for however long I want. You do have to get back to the hospital at some point and it isn't like I can just pick up and leave in the middle of the semester at Dartmouth."

"You know what I mean. We'll make it work."

"Okay." It was an unconvincing response.

"What brought all this on anyway?"

He shrugged. "It just felt good being here in Washington, getting away for a couple of days. I thought maybe we'd want to consider a change. That's all."

"I don't know if I'm ready for any more changes, but getting away for a couple of days...there's going to be a lot more of that, I promise. Now, I have to get changed for the Embassy." Abbey turned to walk into the bedroom. "You never told me what Congressman Floyd wanted."

Jed followed her. "It was just like I thought. He wanted to discuss the state legislative session. Nothing important."

She pulled out two suits and held them up for his inspection. "I couldn't decide so I brought both." Jed pointed to the plum one. Abbey returned the other. "Head Start cuts?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I hope you told him something needs to be done. The President has targeted Head Start, Medicare, and Social Security, despite all the talk of these programs being exempt from budget cuts. Congress really should challenge him on this one. It's not just the smaller states dealing with the pitfalls."

"Yeah." If only she knew that was exactly what he wanted to do.

Jed watched as she slid off her jeans and rolled her pantyhose up her shapely legs. His eyes frozen in thought, he didn't even blink at the sexy satin slip she stepped into. Abbey realized something wasn't right, so she swung her hips and sauntered over to where he was sitting on the edge of the bed, straddling his thighs as she sat down to face him.

"Hey. What is it?"

Jed gave her a weak smile. With his hand on top of her head, he swept a falling strand of hair with his thumb. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Everything we just talked about. I'm looking forward to next year with you and the girls at the farm, just like you said, doing all those things we rarely get to do now."

And so he buried the ambition that spurred in his heart the moment he heard Congressman Floyd's suggestion. To Jed, a congressional run just wouldn't be feasible without Abbey beside him. He couldn't take her away from the job she worked so hard to get unless she wanted to leave, and it was clear Abbey wasn't ready to abandon their life in New Hampshire.

A sacrifice had to be made and he chose to be one to make it. He'd tell her the truth about the conversation with Floyd eventually, but for the time being, he decided to focus on the Nobel Prize festivities rather than dwell on an enticing opportunity that seemed to be swaying further out of his reach.

TBC 


	17. Chapter 17

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 17

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed considered Congressman Floyd's offer that he run for the U.S. House of Representatives, but decided he couldn't do it unless Abbey and the girls were willing to move to Washington if he won; without telling Abbey about the proposition, Jed realized she was making plans for them to stay in New Hampshire

Summary: At the embassy reception, the Swedish Ambassador has some news for Jed and Abbey; Jed is reminded he needs a pair of patent leather shoes for Sweden

Author's Note: In case anyone's interested, the job offer that Jed turned down in London is the subject of the storyline in an earlier story in this series called The London Years. Chapters 10-18 of The London Years pertain to the research position, though Yosh Takahashi isn't mentioned since the show introduced him long after TLY had been written

Jed and Abbey approached the large glass building. This building, the House of Sweden as it was called around D.C., was better known to everyone as the Swedish Embassy. The four-story structure sat on the banks of the Potomac and inside, a casual reception had just begun to honor the four American Nobel laureates.

Abbey turned a concerned eye to her husband when Jed slowed his stride in front of the door. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. I just need a minute to get ready."

"Who are you kidding? You've been preparing for this since the day you were invited. You're just going over everyone's picture in your head because you're afraid of forgetting their names."

"You know me too well." He grinned. "I don't always like that."

"You love it." Abbey opened the top button of his coat so she could straighten his tie. "Eventually, you're going to have to tell me what's on your mind."

"What do you mean?"

"You're preoccupied with something besides the reception. Something else happened during your meeting at the Capitol this morning."

His smile faded just a little. "I'm that obvious?"

"Only to someone who knows you as well as I do. After fifteen years, you are a tad predictable."

"Just a tad?"

"I was trying to be nice."

How foolish he was to think he could hide his feelings for very long. He could disguise some things, mask his worry or his happiness on certain occasions. But somehow, Abbey always knew when he was burdened with something this big. And she was right. Deep down, he loved that about her.

Jed toyed with the idea of spilling his guts. After all, telling her that he wanted to run for Congress wouldn't be met with criticism or ridicule. Of that he was sure. He knew she'd be ecstatic, bragging about his accomplishments and encouraging him to launch himself all the way to the top. That was just who she was. It was who she always had been before. But in this case, he feared things might work out a little differently in the end because this time, his aspirations were on the verge of derailing hers in a collision that would force one of them to concede to the other. 

It would be life-altering, the decision they were facing at the end of a long and complicated discussion. So for that reason, he decided to conceal his thoughts and postpone the inevitable until they were alone. "Not now, okay?"

"Later then."

"Later." Jed took a step back when she finished his tie. "Do I look all right?"

Abbey shook her head. "Better than all right. Much better."

"Here we go." He took another deep breath as he opened the door and followed her inside.

Still framed in the doorway, they were greeted by one of the assistants who took their coats, then ushered them through a crowd of national media for a formal introduction with the Ambassador. Jed was nudged and stopped numerous times along the way and he finally clasped Abbey's hand before they were separated by all the prominent guests seeking a moment with the economics professor. When they momentarily found themselves wedged behind an overzealous laureate, Jed chuckled, mildly amused that the scientist seemed to be frustrating the television reporter interviewing him.

"The lay person will understand the importance of reagents in organic synthesis. Phosphorus-containing compounds are..."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Lawrence," the reporter interrupted. "But I'm going to be taking more of a human interest angle on this story. I'm looking for something that tells our viewers a little about you. Or even something that puts your discovery in terms that our viewers can understand and possibly relate to."

"Again, my dear child, people will understand if you'll allow them to hear me explain it. Don't edit me and all shall be understood. Besides, to understand me is to understand my devotion to chemistry. Where were we? Oh yes! Back in Houston, some skeptics believe that Herbert Brown's work with organoboranes, which led to his prize three years ago..."

"Okay, cut!" The reporter signaled her cameraman to turn off his camera.

"If I start talking like that, smack me, will you?" Jed whispered to Abbey as they maneuvered their way across the room.

"Count on it!" Abbey smiled back at him.

Finally, the assistant led them to a more intimate corner. "Mr. Ambassador," she called out as the Ambassador turned to face them. "Dr. Bartlet and his wife have arrived."

"Mr. Ambassador, it's a pleasure to meet you." Jed extended his hand.

The Ambassador shook his hand first, then took Abbey's. "I assure you, the pleasure is all mine. If you'll follow me please."

The Ambassador directed them through yet another foyer and down a narrow hallway to an empty conference room. Jed and Abbey trailed just behind him, confused about why they were being isolated from the other guests.

"This is a nice room."

"It's a little cramped, but it'll do," the Ambassador replied. "Please sit down."

Jed held out Abbey's chair before taking a seat himself. "Is something the matter?"

"I needed a moment alone with you because it recently came to my attention that you may not be aware that you're not the only economics scholar being recognized this year. The Prize Committee was supposed to have told you that the morning they called you."

Jed wasn't entirely surprised. He had heard the rumor from a local reporter a few weeks ago, though he thought nothing of it at the time. Abbey, on the other hand, was shocked. Another winner certainly didn't take away from Jed's accomplishment, but sharing the limelight after so many weeks of believing he was the sole recipient would definitely be an adjustment. She slipped her hand onto her husband's thigh, watching his face closely as she did. It seemed to relax him.

"You know, the morning they called, we had a bad connection. It was a Dr. Royen. Perhaps he mentioned it, but there was too much static on the line. Someone else called me a little later, but I guess he forgot."

"It was an oversight, one that has been rectified from an administrative standpoint. On behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, I deeply apologize for the misunderstanding."

"Well thank you, but there's really no need," Jed said graciously. "There are so many economists out there devoted to making progress in worldwide economic stability. I'm just honored to be one of the ones being recognized."

"I'm thrilled to hear you say that! Some of our past laureates have been rather disappointed when told they'd have to split the prize with someone else, especially since it isn't for shared work."

There was a little part of Jed that could understand that disappointment. He felt it too, the harsh sting that came from the news. But he refused to let it show. "Who is the other winner?"

"I'm glad you asked. The other winner also happens to be a graduate of the London School of Economics."

"Really?"

"He's a Japanese economist, a Dr. Yosh Takahashi."

Abbey gave her husband's thigh a little squeeze as his rosy red cheeks paled slightly. "Dr. Takahashi," she repeated while looking at Jed. "Well, how about that?"

"So you know him?" the Ambassador asked.

"Actually, he and Jed were at LSE together."

"Old grad school friends. And here I thought this was going to be awkward."

Jed nodded stoically, unwilling to show his bitterness. The Ambassador didn't need to know the colorful history that plagued this tumultuous relationship. The details of the antagonistic rivalry that was born the moment Yosh took the research position Jed turned down at the end of their third year at LSE were hidden under a veneer of forged cheerfulness. But no matter how well he disguised his emotions, he couldn't stop himself from remembering the past.

When they got married, Jed vowed that after he earned his doctorate, they would move back to the U.S. so Abbey could begin medical school. But oh, how he wanted that job. His ambition manipulated his logic and, for a while, he wondered if Abbey might just support his decision to stay in London an extra two years. But she didn't. So, in order to keep the promise he made to his wife, Jed declined the job and Yosh was chosen instead.

The eager student boasted about the coveted position, frequently disclaiming the rumors that he was second-choice, a substitute for a more intelligent, more qualified, more likable Jed. Yosh's bruised ego prevented him from ever getting to know the real Jed Bartlet. Instead, his focus was on stepping out of Jed's shadow to cast a more flattering light on himself and, in the process, he ignited a fiery relationship that fueled Jed's resentment.

Twelve years later, that fire still burned strong in Jed's heart. It was obvious in the way he clenched his jaw before asking the Ambassador, "I assume we won't see Dr. Takahashi until we get to Stockholm?"

"That's correct."

"Well then. I can hardly wait."

Abbey returned her husband's gaze just as he leaned back in his chair. Her stare then met the Ambassador's eyes and in one quick second, she realized he had detected Jed's discomfort. She had to change the subject before he persisted. "So when is the press conference?"

"They should be assembling shortly. I'll take you back out to the reception." The Ambassador stood to lead his guests out of the room. "By the way, did you have any trouble finding black patent leather shoes?"

"Black patent leather shoes?" Abbey curiously glanced at Jed.

"Yes, Ma'am," the Ambassador answered. "They are traditional attire for the formal ceremonies during your week in Stockholm."

Jed had been told about the shoes, but he had forgotten to buy a pair. An intentional oversight, he admitted to himself. "I haven't had a chance to really shop yet."

"Oh dear." The Ambassador looked concerned.

"I'll get a pair before we leave for Sweden."

"Be sure that you do. It is imperative that you have shiny black patent leather shoes." And with that request, the Ambassador walked away from the couple.

Jed nodded agreeably until he was out of sight, then turned to Abbey. "Did you know that in Ohio, women are prohibited from wearing patent leather shoes in public?" Abbey stared at him blankly. "Seriously, it's one of the laws on the books in the Buckeye State."

"Jed?"

"The law was passed because legislators felt that if a woman does wear patent leather shoes, a man might see the reflection of something he shouldn't. What a bunch of tight-asses!"

"You can fool the Ambassador, but you can't fool me."

"What makes you think I want to fool either one of you? And what are you talking about anyway?"

"I'm talking about Yosh Takahashi. Are you really going to stand there and tell me you're going to be happy to see him again?"

"I don't have to see him for another week, Abbey, so today, I want to focus on this press conference. Afterwards, I want to focus on the White House tour and after that, I want to enjoy the evening with my wife and my three daughters. The last thing in the world I want to think about - or talk about - is Yosh Takahashi."

"You're really okay with this."

"For now. Ask me in Stockholm and you might get a different answer, but today, I'm okay."

"Wow."

"You expected me to be snarky about it, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah. The way you two feel about each other...yes, I expected you to be a bit snarky. I admit it. But you know what?"

"What?"

"I'm impressed that you're not."

"All these years and I still have the power to impress you. I think that says a little something about us."

"You mean you think it says a little something about you."

"Semantics, Babe. What I really mean is I take comfort in knowing that after fifteen years, I've still got some surprises left in me. At least enough to impress you at times."

She knew what he was really trying to say. "All right, you win. I take it back. You're not completely predictable. Better?"

"That'll do for now. And just to prove to you how unpredictable I really can be, I want to suggest that tomorrow, we get you a pair of patent leather shoes."

"Not a chance!"

"I want to see the reflection of things I'm not supposed to see," he whispered as he closed the space between them.

"This is you being unpredictable?" She arched her brow, laughing.

"And if we want to get really wild, we'll strap you and your patent leather shoes into the car and drive to Toledo."

"Don't you have a press conference or something?"

"I'm here. I'm waiting. As soon as they call for me, I'll put on my serious face, but in the meantime..." He pulled her close to steal a kiss.

The second their lips touched, a barrage of flashing lights blinded them both. A couple of reporters flanked Jed as he reluctantly broke the embrace and Abbey stood silent, a proud smile on her face while watching her husband handle the press with confidence and poise. Unlike some of the other scholars, Jed wasn't just answering questions. He was communicating like a world-class orator. And for a few moments that afternoon, he unknowingly commanded the attention of everyone in the room.

The Nobel Prize was next on the agenda, but it was clear to Abbey that someday, there would be something even bigger on the horizon.

TBC 


	18. Chapter 18

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 18

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: At the embassy reception, the Swedish Ambassador told Jed that he and his former grad school rival, Yosh Takahashi, would be splitting the Nobel Prize in Economics

Summary: Jed allows Abbey to see his bitterness about Yosh; while in the White House, Jed remembers his trip to Washington as a young boy; the Bartlets meet with the President and afterwards, Jed tells Abbey he wants to take Congressman Floyd up on his offer to run for office

Jed and Abbey sat comfortably in the cushion seats of the large shuttle bus inside the White House gates as they waited for security clearance. Abbey scanned the faces of the other laureates, their spouses, and the handful of dignitaries and former laureates accompanying them during the visit while Jed read a copy of the American Journal of Economics he had bought from a newsstand just outside the embassy.

He had been cordial about splitting his Nobel Prize with his former grad school rival, but once the cameras stopped flashing and he was able to escape the prying eyes of the media, he allowed his resentment to fester, knowing that only Abbey would get a glimpse of how he was truly feeling.

"There it is," Jed declared, pointing to a full-page spread about the Nobel Prize with a picture of Yosh Takahashi. "Right there. This issue came out two weeks ago. How I missed it, I have no idea."

"Between all the press interviews you've been doing, your preparations for Washington and Stockholm, and shuttling the girls all around town, you've been running yourself ragged. I'm not surprised you overlooked the article. You had a lot on your mind."

Jed agreed with a nod. "Well, at least he's on page eleven."

Abbey grinned. "And what page are you on?"

"Ten," he replied smugly as he triumphantly turned the page. "And this isn't even the one that announced my award. I read that issue cover to cover."

"Seems appropriate. After all, you were ON the cover." She tweaked him lovingly. "Yosh's prize wasn't mentioned in that one?"

"If he was, it was in a small gray box on page forty-nine because I didn't see it. Small gray box is exactly what he deserves, arrogant son of a bitch."

"I thought we were going to keep the snarkiness to a minimum, especially while in the White House."

He looked up at her, ready to respond with a sarcastic retort, but when she raised her brow, he instantly changed his mind. "You're right. I should put it away."

"Good." Abbey took the coiled magazine out of his hands and put it in her purse.

"I want to buy a copy of the international trades after we leave the White House."

"Jed, you have all these journals at home."

"Yes, but as you so accurately pointed out, I've been too busy to even look at them the past six weeks. I'd like to catch up on my reading while we're here."

"You mean you'd like to catch up on Yosh Takahashi."

"That too."

All Jed wanted to do was brood about his nemesis, the man he was once certain he'd never see again. But as soon as a White House staffer came to escort the laureates into the building, he let go of that bitterness, boldly refusing to lose himself in the competitive rivalry that defined his past.

The guests were led past the marble floors of the entrance hall, through the corridors of the West Wing, and taken to the Roosevelt Room where they'd wait to be summoned by the President. How many meetings were held in this very room every single year, Jed wondered. How many legislative deals were secured? How many decisions were finalized? How many senators and representatives had taken a seat at the large conference table with the unified goal of engaging in discussions that could change the lives of all their constituents?

The room was empty now, except for the laureates and their spouses. But Jed stared at that table, his finger lightly touching the chairs, and in the back of his mind, he could hear a sampling of the heated debates that must have regularly taken place inside the four walls of this famous room.

He padded the carpet alongside his wife. "You know this used to be known as the fish room?" "Yeah?" Abbey replied.

"Yeah. Franklin Roosevelt called it the fish room because he kept his fishing equipment and aquariums in here."

Jed circled the flags that represented the four branches of the military. Above them, hung a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt and below that sat his Nobel Peace Prize - the first prize won by an American.

Noticing his awestruck expression, Abbey snuck up beside him. "Hey. This is pretty extraordinary, huh?"

"That we're here?"

"That we're here, in this building, in this room. We're waiting to see the President."

Jed turned to her with a bashful smile, his sweet blue eyes sparkling with the thrill of the moment. "Yeah. It's pretty extraordinary."

He spotted a stash of small White House lapel pins on a red sheet that draped the mantel and like an unforgotten symbol, it triggered a firestorm of memories. As a young boy, he had bought one with his allowance while on a family vacation in Washington, D.C. He was only seven years old during that trip. He could still remember the cool December breeze ripping through his hair as he clasped his pin to his coat, then stared straight ahead at the front lawn of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Even at that age, Jed's thoughts were captivated by the sight before him. Something touched him deep in his heart that day. Perhaps it was the pride in his father's voice when he talked about the American flag snapping in the wind high above the exterior stone walls of the majestic structure. Or maybe it was the fact that they had just returned from a parade outside the National Archives where he peeked through the glass cases that sheltered the traveling Declaration of Independence and saw, for the very first time, the original inscription of Dr. Josiah Bartlett.

Whatever the reason, White House lapel pins mesmerized Jed thirty years earlier and it was obvious they still hadn't lost their charm. He walked over to the mantel and picked up three of them.

"For the girls?" Abbey asked.

"Yeah."

"Great idea."

She held on to his arm as they joined the rest of the crowd and mingled with the other guests for close to an hour while snacking on an assortment of Pepperidge Farm cookies and caffeinated sodas.

"A true White House feast," Abbey joked when Jed bypassed the Goldfish crackers in favor of the Milanos. "You had a large candy bar on the way to the embassy, you know."

"What's your point?" Her condemnation was written all over her face. "Leave me alone," he said. "It's a special occasion."

Finally, the laureates were called and taken through the bustling halls of the West Wing towards the Oval Office for a short meeting with President Reagan. Jed and Abbey walked side-by-side, their arms brushing against one another until Jed squeezed her fingers, clearly anxious yet eager to meet the leader of the free world.

"May I give you some advice?" she whispered softly.

"Always."

"You only have 15 minutes alone with him. Try to stay objective for that long. No arguing politics, okay?"

"I'm an economic laureate, Abbey. You don't think he might want to talk about the economy?"

"I'm saying you have a short time to make a good impression. The press will be taking pictures. Do you really want tomorrow's story to be you taking on the President of the United States?"

"I think I can hold my own."

"Undoubtedly."

"Was that a crack?" Jed narrowed his stare in her direction. "Rest assured, I'm going in there as a professional, not a rabble-rousing democrat who's hell-bent on going nineteen rounds with a republican president in the Oval Office."

"That's all I'm saying."

"But if he brings up his wacky Star Wars idea, all bets are off!"

Fortunately, the meeting went as smoothly as Abbey had hoped. As always, Jed was the epitome of class even during a quick round of political discussion. His powerful personality caught the attention of everyone in the room and when he opened his mouth, he spoke with such conviction that even President Reagan was a bit smitten with his oratorical style, despite his liberal opinions.

Beaming with pride, Abbey took his hand as they were led out of the room. "I love the blue carpet in there. It really brings out your eyes."

Jed furrowed his brows. "We just met with the President in the Oval Office and that's what you were thinking about?"

She was a sucker for his baby blues. "Yeah."

"Okay then." He shrugged.

After the Oval Office greeting, the Nobel laureates joined the President and the press in the East Room for interviews and photographs that would be plastered in news outlets across the world. Of the four distinguished Americans, Jed was the most approachable to strangers, the most receptive to the media, and the most articulate on camera. So it was no surprise that he quickly became the most popular. He didn't mind though. He was used to the fanfare by now. In fact, he welcomed it.

Forty-five minutes after his colleagues had filtered out, Abbey interrupted his twentieth interview. "Jed, Honey, I think we need to go."

Jed looked around at the few guests floundering around. "Where is everyone?"

"Most left a little while ago."

"Oh. We'll go in a sec," he replied as he extended his arm to invite Abbey into his discussion with one of the print journalists at the event. "Abbey, this guy's grandfather worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Boise, Idaho back in 1925."

"Really?"

"Yes, Ma'am. My father too, until the layoffs about eight months ago. 'Rightsizing,' they called it."

"What does he do now?"

"He hasn't been able to find another job. There are layoffs all around town so a lot of his friends are in the same boat he is. Unemployment is running out and they're at the age now where they feel they're too old to learn a new trade. The economy's gone down the toilet and no one cares enough to do anything."

"Things are that bad?"

"They really are. I was telling your husband, I'm just a bureau reporter in a small town in Idaho. I thought I lucked out with this assignment. Coming to Washington to cover an Idaho resident's Nobel Prize, I was naive enough to believe I could also meet with one of our senators, discuss some of the economic problems not only in my home state, but surrounding states as well. But unfortunately, they were too busy to meet with me."

"You couldn't even get a meeting? That's incredible."

"It really is," Jed agreed. "Have you written to them? Have you tried working with your state senators?"

"Yes, Sir. I've done both. No one responds. It's irritating when even the people who are supposed to represent you call it 'rightsizing,' you know? Our U.S. senator came to a meeting to listen to my father and 300 of his colleagues who were laid off. I thought he was supposed to be there to help, to offer some assistance, but all he did was defend the railroad."

The man's story saddened Jed. Layoffs were common in many industries and it was quite possible the elected officials couldn't have persuaded the railroad to keep their employees, but the fact that they had made themselves unavailable to their constituents, the people who put them in office, was outrageous.

It was that kind of insensitivity that soiled the purpose of government and convinced everyday citizens they were on their own in the world, that politicians were just money-grubbing campaigners who couldn't care less about the people they were supposed to represent.

Motivated by an overwhelming desire to disprove the myth that it was only the power-hungry leeches that made it to Washington, Jed left the White House that day convinced he would take Congressman Floyd's suggestion and run for office. He wanted to live in a world where serving the country was important, not for the prominence or the accolades, but because being the microphone for the powerless voices out there was the only way to ensure that the rights and interests of all Americans were equally protected.

The fire had already started burning inside him and a trip to the Smithsonian later that afternoon only added fuel to the embers. A copy of the Declaration of Independence was on loan from the University of Virginia for a special exhibit at the museum. Sitting behind a wall of protection, the document provoked an undeniable passion in Jed's soul.

He pointed through the glass as he lectured his daughters. "Right there is the signature of Dr. Josiah Bartlett."

"Why isn't it the real one?" Lizzie asked.

"The original has been in the National Archives since the 1950s. It's hanging on a wall under an armed guard."

"Why an armed guard, Daddy?" Ellie wanted to know.

"So it'll always be safe."

Abbey stood beside her husband and wrapped her arm around his waist. "Girls, when your father was a little boy, he got to see the document being carried from the Library of Congress to its new home in the National Archives. He and his family were invited to stand along the parade route."

"Really, Daddy?"

"Really. My parents, my brother, and I stood right outside the National Archives, waiting for it to arrive. And when it did, I got to see it for the first time."

"What was the other Dr. Josiah Bartlett like?" Liz rested her chin on her palm as she looked over the railing at the signature.

"Well, he was a medical doctor. He started out as a state legislator from Kingston and was eventually elected to the Continental Congress. From all accounts, he was a selfless man who participated in the long sessions of Congress despite his health troubles. I have all kinds of books and letters about him at home, Lizzie. We'll go through them when we go back."

"Daddy?" Ellie called out him. "How come there are two T's in his name but only one in ours? What happened to the other T?"

"That's an excellent question, Sweetheart. How about we look it up when we get home?"

"Okay," the eight-year-old agreed. "Can we go see Dorothy's ruby slippers now?"

Liz's eyes lit up at her sister's suggestion. "Yeah! I really want to see them close-up."

"Go ahead. We're right behind you." Abbey took control of Zoey's stroller as her daughters began the journey towards a different wing in the museum.

"Abbey." Jed reached out for her arm. "Wait a second. I want to talk to you."

"Sure."

"Remember when we were at the embassy and you said you knew I had been preoccupied since my meeting with Congressman Floyd this morning?"

"Yeah."

"You were right." He walked in front of her so he could look her squarely in the eyes. "He posed a question to me that came out left field. I've been struggling with it all day and the more I think about it, the more I think that maybe..."

"What?"

"He wants me to consider running for Congress."

"Congress?" she repeated.

"Congress," Jed confirmed.

For several seconds, Abbey was speechless. Finally, she asked for more confirmation. "Congress as in the U.S. House of Representatives?"

"Yeah. Bradley will be retiring in 1984 and they need a democrat for his seat. He recruited me. He said the Speaker wants me, the New Hampshire democrats want me. He seemed really upbeat about the whole thing." Jed followed as she let go of the stroller and paced a few directionless steps. "Abbey, say something."

"I'm sorry. My mind is just racing with...I don't know what to say. I can't even get a clear thought." She stopped then and faced her husband. "Jed!" Her hands covered her mouth, but he knew she was smiling because the corners of her eyes crinkled softly. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." He smiled too.

"I'm just overwhelmed, I guess." Her hands fell from her lips as she cleared her voice. "I have questions. I have concerns."

"We'll deal with those. But you're not saying no, right? You're not totally against the idea?"

"Why in the world would I be against this idea? And why would I say no?"

"I don't know."

"You thought I was going to say no? Has this marriage ever been a dictatorship?"

"I just wasn't sure how you'd react this time. I mean, it'll change all our lives."

"It will, but I couldn't possibly stand in your way, not when I believe, in my heart, that you were born to do something like this. You're going to do so much good for so many people, Jed."

"If we do it, we'll have a lot to learn. Campaigning...we don't know anything about campaigning really. All I've ever done is just meet the people in our neighborhood. We're talking hardcore campaigning this time. Fundraising. Hiring a campaign staff. Hiring image consultants, speechwriters, press secretaries."

"We'll do whatever we need to," Abbey offered optimistically.

Jed's excitement grew with every passing moment. "I know living in Washington may not be easy."

"No, but it won't be permanent."

"No, it won't. I realize it's a lot to ask of you and the girls."

"God, Jed, we'll miss you so much." She crossed in front of him.

"Wait a minute. Miss me?" He stepped in front of her once again. "Why would you miss me?"

"With you living in Washington. If you win, you'll have to move."

"I was thinking we'd have to move. All of us. You, me, and the girls."

"Oh."

His enthusiasm deflated considerably with her lackluster response. "I can't do this without you. I can't do it without knowing you'd be with me in Washington."

"Jed, I just accepted a thoracic surgery position at a very prestigious hospital. This is what I've been working for since I started med school eleven years ago. You want me to turn it down?"

"That's what I meant when I said it was a lot to ask."

"That's an understatement."

"What are you saying now?"

"I'm saying we have a lot to talk about."

Their eyes locked. They stood there completely silent until they heard Ellie calling for them. Without another word, Abbey reached for Zoey's stroller and began to move towards her daughters.

"You were okay with it if it meant just me moving to Washington, but now that I said I'd rather we all move, you're against it?"

"I'm not against it."

"You're not for it."

"There's a lot to think about."

"You would rather be apart from me than give up a job?"

She stopped him just before they turned the corner. "Of course not! I never said that."

"You did a one-eighty when I mentioned all of us moving."

"I said from the start I had questions and concerns. If my mood changed, it's because that's when it hit me. That's when it became reality. Don't read more into it, Jed. Don't question my loyalty."

"I'm not, Abbey." Disappointed in her reaction, he sighed. "Look, I really want to do this. I think it's important that I do this."

"I want you to do it, but it isn't like I can blindly give you my blessing. It's not fair of you to ask that of me without any discussion."

She had a point, Jed acknowledged. While he battled the idea in his head for the past eight hours, she had been given only seconds to respond. "Okay. We'll discuss it tonight. We'll figure it out together."

He placed his hand in the crook of her arm, pulling her to lean against his frame as they pushed Zoey's stroller and joined Ellie and Liz at the Wizard of Oz exhibit.

TBC 


	19. Chapter 19

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 19

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed went through trade magazines to find the announcement about Yosh Takahashi's Nobel Prize; The Bartlets met with President Reagan in the Oval Office; Jed was surprised at Abbey's reaction to the news that the democrats want him to run for Congress

Summary: Jed and Abbey discuss their options

Jed came out of the bathroom dressed only in a towel that hung low around his waist. His skin was still damp from his shower and his hair was a tousled mess from the moisture. He locked eyes with Abbey, giving her an appreciative stare framed with a subtle smile when he found his pajamas laid out on the bed.

"Thanks."

She held out another towel and a comb as he approached her to sit down on the edge of the mattress. "It's been a long day."

"Yeah. Are the girls asleep?"

"They're tucked in, but Ellie was so excited, I don't think she'll be able to sleep tonight."

"About tomorrow?"

"She can't wait. She's been wanting to go to the The National Air and Space Museum since we got here. Lizzie too, but she's looking forward to Arlington Cemetery a bit more. She's been reading the literature all night."

"The Air and Space Museum, Arlington, the Washington Monument, Ford's Theater. We'll hardly have time to breathe. Oh, by the way, there's a chic outdoor cafe just a few blocks away from the Monument. I thought maybe we could grab some lunch there."

"I think I know the place. It's conveniently located right next to the DAR museum."

"It is not," Jed replied, momentarily confused until he saw the glint in her eye. "Is that your way of pushing us towards a visit to the DAR museum?"

"What a fabulous idea!" Her mischievous grin gave her away.

He laughed. "Add it to the list."

"I'm not keeping a list, Hon. It's not like we're going to suddenly forget where we're going. And if we do, we have three daughters to remind us."

"Good point."

"An outdoor cafe? Jed, it's 30 degrees outside."

"We'll wear our coats."

"You just want to soak up all our time so we don't have to shop for patent leather shoes."

"Damn right. I'm not in a shoe-shopping kind of mood. Besides, we have the embassy banquet tomorrow night. Tomorrow's going to be an even longer day than today without us having to race around town so I can try on footwear more appropriately suited for Zoey."

"You'll have to buy them eventually, you know."

"I know," he grumbled with an obvious sigh. "I can be a master procrastinator when I want to be."

Abbey chuckled. "Tired?"

"Exhausted."

"You have to stay up long enough to talk about the bombshell you dropped earlier."

He turned to face her. "I was waiting for one of us to bring it up."

Abbey handed him the comb after she worked the towel through his thick brown strands. She stood then. Dressed in a sheer pink nightgown, she paced in front of him, talking as if she had rehearsed this speech a thousand times.

"You caught me by surprise when you told me the news earlier. I know that you're a dedicated politician, but that's always been a part-time job. You represent the people of our district in Concord and you do it well. So well. I probably shouldn't have been blown away when you told me that your commitment hasn't gone unnoticed by the party, but what can I say? I was."

"Abbey..."

"Let me finish." He nodded for her to continue. "My gut reaction was a combination of pride and shock. Congressman Floyd telling you that you're the man they want to fill Bradley's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives...I can't even describe what I felt when I heard you say that. And right away, I thought, 'well, of course he's going to do it! He can't possibly refuse to run after he's been courted by the House Majority Leader.' And so, I thought about you running. I thought about you winning. I even thought about you living in Washington. But I never REALLY thought about it, you know? My mind was racing and my words could barely keep up."

"Okay, but now that the shock has hopefully worn off, how do you feel about it? Is it something we can at least explore?"

"In theory, I think that you running for Congress is a wonderful idea. I think there's no one more qualified for the job and with you in charge, I have no doubt the people in our district will be well represented in Washington."

"You mean that?"

"Of course I do."

"I'd do my best to represent them!" His eyes lit up as he scrambled to his feet and dropped his towel to slip into his boxers. "I feel like I could do this, like I could do it well."

"I know you would," she assured him. "Last summer, when I was campaigning for the public policy initiative, everywhere I went people raved about you, Jed. They knew you were in Concord fighting for them every single day of the legislative session. I can't begin to tell you how much trust our neighbors have in you."

"Hey." He reached for her hands, stroking them as he covered them with his own. "Thank you for telling me that. My father used to say that a person can't complain about the problems in the world unless he's part of the solution. I see so many problems, Abbey. I have ideas I want to share. There are so many things I want to do."

"And I want you to do them."

"So you support me running." Jed exhaled a breath of relief. "Thank God. You scared me back at the Smithsonian. I thought for a minute that you were going to be against this."

"Well, I still have a lot of questions. I said earlier that 'in theory,' it's a good idea. Logistically, I don't know how to make it work."

"We'll have people to help us with that. We'll have to hire a campaign staff, which starts with a campaign director. Apparently, the DCCC already has resumes and suggestions. I know the next election is two years away, but it'll take several months to get everyone in place. We'll want to establish a finance team as soon as possible..."

"Whoa, Jed." Abbey shook her head. "I wasn't talking about that. I meant us. Logistically, I don't know how to make it work between us." She dropped her gaze to the floor for a moment, then looked at him again. "I don't want to move to Washington and I really don't want to live five hundred miles away from you."

Her words clouded the fantasy that was playing out in his mind. His features sagged slightly in disappointment and he waited several seconds to respond. "Maybe you should have said that first."

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't do this. It just means I'm conflicted."

"First of all, living five hundred miles apart? To me, that's not even an option, Abbey. I can't imagine it and, to tell you the truth, I'm a little surprised that you can."

"I don't even know if I can. The more I thought about it after you told me, I realized just how hard it's going to be. But if that's our only choice..."

"It's not our only choice."

"No, it's not. You can decide not to run." She surprised him with that one. "But you and I both know that it's probably too late to forget about this. We'll always wonder what would have happened"

He waited for her to suggest an alternative. But she never did. "There is another choice. If I win - and that's a pretty big if - but if I win, you can put your reservations aside and move with me to Washington."

"I can't move to Washington." Abbey walked away from him.

"Why not?" He followed.

She whirled around to ask, "How long is Congress in session during the year?"

"That's not the point, Abbey."

"Of course it's the point! When we're living in Washington and Congress isn't in session, you're going to be expected to do district work. Where? In Manchester. So the girls and I will be in Washington and you'll be back here for weeks or months at a time."

"We'll figure out a way for me to spend most of that time with you."

"How can you? You'll have the first few months to adjust, but after that, you'll have to go back to Manchester. You know that."

"We're talking about two years, Abbey. TWO YEARS."

"Two years, then what? Then you run for reelection and campaign in Manchester while the girls and I live in Washington?"

"Who's talking about reelection? I haven't even won the first primary yet."

"Fine, say you win the primary - if you're even opposed - then you win the general."

"You have a lot more faith in me than I do."

"I always have," she said.

"You're getting way ahead of yourself."

"Hear me out. Say after two years, you decide you don't want to run for another term. Then we pull the girls out of school again and move back to Manchester? Ellie will be in the middle of junior high at the end of your first term. As shy as she is, she'll hate switching schools."

"You never know. She may be eager to move back to a smaller school."

"She'll be as upset as Lizzie was when we moved from Hanover to Manchester. And speaking of Lizzie, she'll be 16 at the time of your first election. You want us to pull her out of high school during her junior year?"

"She'll be fine. She's outgoing and she loves Washington. Besides, I won't take office until January. She'll complete her first semester in Manchester and we can move before second semester begins in Washington. She'll be okay with that."

"I'm sorry, but have you met Lizzie?"

"Our daughters love this place."

"To visit, Jed. Not to live here. They have friends in New Hampshire. They have a life in New Hampshire." Abbey took a breath, then said softly, "I have a job in New Hampshire."

"You can work anywhere you want."

"I want to work at Dartmouth-Hitchock."

"Why?"

"I've already told you why."

His erratic hand gestures a clear sign of his annoyance, Jed shot back at her, "Well maybe you could tell me again because I still don't get it."

"Jed," Abbey said calmly, trying to dull his sharp tone.

"No, Abbey, I'm trying, but for the past decade, we've built our lives around med school and residency to get you to where you want to be! I dealt with the 36-hour shifts, the ridiculous on-call schedule, the canceled plans and missed appointments. I covered for you with the girls, I took care of the house, I paid all the bills on time and I did it all to make life easier for you so that you had nothing to worry about but school. I don't think it's unreasonable for me to suggest that now that your fellowship is almost over, other things take precedence for a while!"

His voice was laced with a certain amount of frustration that sounded, to her, like anger. Abbey was stunned. Husband and wife stared at each other for two whole minutes before she dared to utter a sound. Finally, she opened her mouth, but a struggle to find an appropriate response led to a simple, "Wow."

Jed bit down on his lower lip. He hadn't meant to raise his voice. "That came out stronger than I intended." She watched as he stepped back and leaned against the dresser, his arms folded over his chest.

"You don't think I know everything you've done for me and the girls while I've been in school?"

"I wasn't throwing that back in your face."

"Could have fooled me. I heard an awful lot of bitterness in that statement."

"I'm not bitter," Jed insisted.

"There's no earthly reason I should believe that." Abbey avoided eye contact as she walked past him to turn down the bed. Jed hovered a few inches behind.

"How about because I'm telling you? Are you going to do this? Now of all times, you're going to psychoanalyze me? Don't we have enough problems tonight?"

"We have problems?" she asked, fluffing her pillow.

"You know what I mean. Right now. This...this is a problem."

"I don't know how to fix it!" she shouted.

Jed stood directly behind her. He softened his voice when she rubbed her temples. "I'm not expecting you to. All I'm saying is it's been a while since we've been able to do something without thinking about what it would mean to your career."

"And you resent me for that."

"Don't put words in my mouth!" He grabbed her upper arms and spun her around to face him. "I have never resented you, Abbey. I knew before I married you that you wanted to go to med school and I promised you that I would do whatever it took to help you become the doctor you wanted to become. If there's one thing in my life I will never regret, it's that I kept that promise. I don't resent you. That's not even possible."

"I'm grateful for everything you did, Jed..."

His hands slid up her arms to rest firmly on her shoulders. "You did it for me too. You went to London with me for four years. You delayed your education so that I could get my doctorate. That's what I'm getting at, Abbey. We've both sacrificed things. We've both compromised now and then in order to help each other. Why can't we compromise this time"  
She shrugged out of his grasp. "What would be a fair compromise? You running for office and me and the girls moving to DC with you for two years while you travel back and forth from Manchester during every congressional recess? How is that a compromise?"

"The compromise would be considering our options instead of just putting your foot down. Allow for the possibility of a move to Washington. Think about it. That's all I'm asking."

"And if I say no, you're going to turn down an offer to run for Congress? How can you do that?"

"What do you expect me to do? It's not just about me and you. There are other considerations. I know Congress takes a lot of breaks and I'll be home for holidays and three-day weekends. But what if that's not enough? What if I miss out on the important things? I want to be there when Zoey loses her first tooth, when Lizzie is getting ready for the prom. I want to help Ellie with her long division and show Zoey how to ride a bike without training wheels as soon as she's ready. I want to teach Liz how to drive and I want to be there to lecture her the first time we take her car keys away for a speeding ticket. I don't want to miss my little girls growing up. I don't want to go to Washington without them."

It took him a while to get there, but he had made an argument Abbey couldn't fight. Liz, Ellie, and Zoey were just as devoted to Jed as he was to them and there wasn't a day that went by that Abbey didn't thank God for blessing her children with such an extraordinary father.

Her own wants were secondary now. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'm convinced. I think you should run. And if you win, we'll move to Washington."

He questioned her change of heart, remorseful now about his earlier outburst. "Look, regardless of how it sounded, I wasn't trying to back you into a corner, Abbey. I don't want to guilt you into this."

"You didn't. It wasn't what you said before that persuaded me. It was the last part, about the girls. They deserve to have their father around just as much as you deserve to be with them."

"They just grow up so fast already. I want to cherish the time we have with them." He took a step towards her and said, "I want to cherish the time I have with you too."

"I know. You were right. I can work wherever I want and it's more important that I'm with you."

If he looked closely, he could see the shadow of a smile as she wrapped her arms around his waist and stared up at him through her pretty green eyes. He loved that about her. She had an uncanny ability to recover from a heated disagreement and break the tension with a simple smile that always melted his heart.

Jed kissed her lips, but Abbey could feel him pulling away. "What's the matter?"

"I don't feel good about it."

"You got what you wanted."

"I don't feel like I got it for the right reasons."

"You're impossible, you know that?" Abbey tightened her grip on his waist as she teased him. "Are you going to change sides now and tell me why we should stay in Manchester?"

"I didn't say that." He grinned. "I just don't like thinking I bullied you into this. I don't want you to impulsively agree to move because you feel pressured. And you have to admit, you do feel pressured, don't you?"

"Well, it was kind of hasty. I've only had a few hours to process all this."

"I know. I was just so excited about the opportunity that I jumped the gun."

"Can we have some time? Can we just sleep on it for a little while before we make concrete plans?"

"Yes. Of course we can."

"When do you have to let them know?"

"Not until Christmas. Let's get through this next week and when we get back from Sweden, we'll talk about it. All of us. With the girls and everything."

"Be prepared because I don't think the girls will be happy about moving. In fact, they may try to talk you into not running so no one has to leave."

"Yeah, I know. But they should have a say, right?"

"Well, if you truly want to work in a democracy, then maybe we should start at home. Let's give them a vote."

Jed pointed his suspicious glare directly at her. "Don't think I'm not on to you, Cupcake. You're trying to stack the votes in your favor so you don't have to honor your promise to move."

"Promise? Who made a promise? I simply said I'd do it." She gave him a coy smirk as she stepped out of the embrace, took his hand and led him to their bed. "Semantics will get you every time, Babe."

"Apparently."

"We'll tell the girls after Sweden. And who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they'll be thrilled."

"I have faith." He reclined against his pillow, rolling to his side to drape his arm over Abbey. She raised her head to give him a kiss goodnight before turning off her light.

"Jed?"

"Yeah?"

"Just so you know, I hate it when you call me cupcake."

"It's a term of affection."

"Can't you show your affection in a different way?"

Facing away from him, Abbey let out a delightful squeal as Jed pulled her close against his body so he could finger with her voluptuous breasts. "You bet, Hot Pants."

TBC 


	20. Chapter 20

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 20

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Following a heated discussion, Jed and Abbey agreed to wait until after they got back from Sweden to talk about Jed running for Congress

Summary: The Bartlets enjoy their last day in Washington, D.C.; Abbey realizes what a stubborn patient Jed can be

The clicking of the rifles could be heard over the whistling of the crisp autumn air. Silence engulfed the amphitheater, penetrated by only one voice. The relief commander walked to the center, saluting the white marble tomb still marked with the beautiful wreath President Reagan had laid there on Veteran's Day just a few weeks earlier. He then faced the spectators and asked them to stand.

Jed subtly turned his head to the side to see if Abbey was still within view. He saw her nod from where she stood several feet away so that Zoey's fussiness wouldn't disturb the ceremony, then turned his attention back to the guards to watch the relief sentinel join the relief commander and the retiring sentinel at the center mat.

"Pass on your orders," the relief commander said.

"Post and orders, remain as directed."

"Orders acknowledged," the new sentinel replied as he stepped onto the black mat and saluted the tomb, then began his steady pace of 90 steps per minute.

There were many things the Bartlets wanted their daughters to see in Washington, but visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers was on the top of the list. Though he never served a day in uniform, Jed had great respect for the men and women who dedicated their lives to protecting their country. Never was that admiration more clear than on those rare occasions that Leo shared stories of Vietnam.

He was one of the lucky ones, Leo would say. There were other men - stronger, braver, and younger - who didn't make it out alive. They had parents waiting to hug them, fiancées waiting to marry them, and children waiting to love them. They were the ones who never made it home, the ones who were left behind. The ones that always held a special place in Leo's heart.

Being killed in combat was tragic enough, but the thought of those who were buried without any recognition brought Jed a new wave of sadness.

"How come they don't know who they were, Daddy?" Ellie asked him as they gathered their belongings and met Abbey and Zoey on the top step.

"I don't know, Sweetheart. That sometimes happens in war."

"It shouldn't happen," Liz adamantly declared. "If someone goes to fight for their country, there should always be a record of who he was. They weren't just dropped here. They have families. They have names. We should know their names."

Abbey wrapped an arm around her daughter's shoulders as they made their way out of the plaza. Lizzie shared her parents' temper, but she also shared their passion. Ellie was the sensitive one, so saddened at the thought of an abandoned soldier being laid to rest without a name that she lowered her head in silence to hide the her droopy lips. But Elizabeth - she was outspoken and opinionated with an undeniable desire to speak her mind. Sometimes it got her into trouble. But often, it was a quality both Jed and Abbey adored in their eldest daughter.

As the family walked along a freshly cut path across the acres of land, Jed pointed out the other colorful wreaths that hung on some of the tombs, but when they turned the corner and saw a spark of light up ahead, Liz and Ellie ignored their father's speech and picked up their pace.

"I wasn't talking or anything," he mumbled to Abbey who was perusing a guidebook of exhibits and memorials.

"They'll be interested in what you have to say on the way back."

"No they won't. By then, they'll be bored and want to move on to other things."

"In that case, you can tell me." She folded up the brochure and tucked it under her arm. "I'm listening."

"Yeah, but you know what I want to say. You're just humoring me."

"What's wrong with that?"

Jed shook his head and then looked to his youngest daughter. "I think I'll enlighten little Zoey here."

Zoey, who had hopped in her stroller after they left the amphitheater, listened quietly for several seconds as Jed began to tell her about the wreath-laying ceremonies that took place every day at the cemetery. Eventually though, she heard her sisters talking in the distance and she kicked her little feet until Jed stopped the stroller so she could get out to chase them. Jed and Abbey trailed behind their girls as they neared the eternal flame that burned at the head of John F. Kennedy's grave.

After leaving Arlington Cemetery, the Bartlets went to the Air and Space Museum where Ellie, Abbey, and Liz spent their time on the flight simulators while Jed took Zoey to the How Do Things Fly Exhibit.

So amazed by the science that made her feel like she was being propelled into the air, Ellie accepted a brochure meant for Liz as they left the simulator. The teenager may have enjoyed the experience, but she certainly wasn't as big a science enthusiast as her little sister. Ellie's eyes sparkled with excitement, her jaw hung open, and her brows arched to the middle of her forehead as she thumbed through the glossy pictures of kids at Space Camp at Cape Canaveral.

She'd go to Space Camp someday, Abbey promised her. For now, that promise was enough to keep her mind racing with fantasies.

The rest of the day was supposed to include more sightseeing at famous landmarks and museums, but it was during their trek across the National Mall towards the Washington Monument that plans went awry. There, a vendor selling kites dominated the girls' attention and within seconds, they looked to the sky to see delicate pieces of string holding up the diamond-shaped frames of a dozen vibrant kites.

Jed and Abbey shared a glance as Abbey mentally crossed out the rest of the afternoon itinerary while Jed pulled out his wallet and purchased two large kites for Liz and Ellie and a small kite for Zoey.

Instead of their original plan of dining on barbecued kabobs over a bed of white rice sprinkled with a traditional lemon-flavored salad at the posh Mediterranean cafe down the street, they picnicked on hot dogs and chips, followed by a serving of ice cream in the fields of the National Mall.

"Ice cream in this cold." Abbey shuddered at the thought, but it didn't stop Jed from ordering.

"I'd like one scoop of mint chocolate chip in a cone, one scoop of chocolate nut fudge also in a cone, another scoop of chocolate nut fudge in a cup with a cone on the side, and..." He turned to Abbey. "Are you sure you don't want one?" 

"Positive. No one in his right mind would be eating ice cream in November in Washington."

"Then why's he out here selling it?"

"Because he knows he'll attract insane customers like you."

Despite her protests, he suspected her sweet tooth wouldn't allow her to actually resist. At least not for long. She would probably change her mind when she saw him nibbling the frozen treat, he assumed. So he ordered a scoop of plain chocolate in a cup with two spoons and while he waited for it, he handed Liz her mint chocolate chip, Ellie her chocolate nut fudge in a cone, and Zoey a cup of chocolate nut fudge with a cone dipped on one side.

The anxious toddler took the ice cream, but her enthusiasm vanished with a frown as her eyes rested on Ellie. "I want Ellie's," she said, looking up at her father.

"Yours is the same flavor as Ellie's."

"Nuh uh. I want Ellie's!"

"Zo, you can't have Ellie's. You have your own."

When Zoey fumbled with her cone, Abbey took the cup from her. "You want it in the cone like Ellie's?" Abbey smiled in response to her daughter's emphatic nod, then turned the container upside-down until the ice cream slid into the cone. "Better?"

"Yeah!"

Zoey loved both her sisters, but Ellie was the one she frequently shadowed. Whatever Ellie wore, Zoey wanted to wear. Whatever Ellie said, Zoey would mimic. Whatever Ellie did, Zoey wanted to do. That constant struggle to mirror Ellie's actions frustrated her often, especially when her stubborn streak reared its ugly head and she proclaimed her independence instead of asking for help.

She stood there calmly, inspecting the way Ellie launched her kite. She made it look easy, Zoey noted. It was purple and shiny with glittering pink bows that set it apart from the rest. And with one little hop, up it went, soaring towards the clouds as if on a boundless flight to reach the heavens.

She was persuaded she could do it too and though she was overwhelmed by the weight of her kite, Zoey refused assistance from Jed and Abbey. Instead, she jumped just as high as her little feet could take her and tossed it into the air only to have it fall right back down. Eventually, when her annoyance got the better of her, she allowed Abbey to guide her.

Abbey kneeled behind her daughter as a small breeze swept under the kite, lifting it up. "There it goes!"

"HIGHER!" Zoey squealed, enthusiastically jumping up and down.

"Be careful. You can't let out too much of the string." Her hands gripped Zoey's to curl the two-year-old's fingers around the thin ball of string.

Zoey pushed against her mother's grasp. "I do it! I do it!"

"You sure you can handle it?"

The little girl bit her bottom lip and nodded vigorously until Abbey released her hold. The red and white plastic kite circled around itself and came barreling down, crashing nose-first into the ground.

From a park bench a few feet away, Jed stopped chuckling when Zoey stomped her foot in anger. Abbey tried to calm her, but it wasn't until Jed showed up that Zoey stopped pouting.

"It's okay, Zoey," he said. "It took your sisters a while to learn how to do it and they were a lot older than you are now."

"It's not an easy thing to do by yourself," Abbey added.

"Here, let me show you." Jed grabbed the kite and like a kid himself, he wrapped the string around his fingers and began sprinting across the field. "See Zoey, it's all about letting the wind catch it," he shouted, turning his head to look over his shoulder while jogging forward.

"JED!" Abbey yelled as he unsuspectingly careened towards Lizzie.

As Liz spun around to acknowledge her mother, father and daughter collided. The top of Liz's kite poked Jed right in the chest. He stepped backwards and lost his balance, falling to the ground.

"Dad, are you okay?"

"Fine," he grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his right eye.

"Liz, are you all right?" Abbey asked.

"Yeah, but I don't know about Dad."

Abbey squatted beside him. "Jed, what hurts?"

"What doesn't?"

"Did you twist your ankle?"

"No, I don't think so."

"What's wrong with your eye?"

"Nothing." He'd say anything to avoid an eye exam by Dr. Bartlet.

"You're lying."

"Abbey."

"You're blinking quite rapidly."

"I blink from time to time. It's one of those annoying habits I picked up when I was born."

"Let me see." He twitched as she framed his face with her hands and held his lid open with her thumb. "Is your vision clear or blurry?"

"Clear, but it hurts when you hold it open like that."

"It looks like you've got some debris in your eye. Probably sand."

"I didn't. It's fine." He pulled her hand away.

"You need to rinse it out."

"I'll go get some water from the ice cream vendor!" Liz volunteered.

"Thanks."

"I don't want to rinse it out," Jed complained as Zoey plopped down next to him. "You know I hate putting anything in my eye."

"I do know that."

"So?"

"So I don't care. I want to get a good look at it after we flush it out with some water."

"Right now, my biggest problem is that I'm sitting here like some kind of idiot and people are staring."

Abbey scanned the area. "No one's staring."

"Sure they are. They just look away when you stare back."

"I don't think you're an idiot, Daddy," Ellie assured him.

"Thank you, Ellie." Jed held his hand out to Abbey. "Help me up, please?" She pulled, but Jed resisted. "Uh oh."

"What?"

"My back."

"Jed, I told you to have that checked out months ago."

"I know. I know. But don't lecture me about it now, okay?"

"Lie back." Abbey lifted his right leg, then his left. "Is that better or worse?"

"It's not too bad. It's probably just the muscles." She walked behind him and kneeled to the ground. Her fingers manipulated the sore muscles as she bent him forward over his outstretched legs. "That's much better. Thanks."

"You think you can stand?"

Jed squirmed briefly, then rolled to his knees. "I think it'll be okay," he said, slowly standing up.

"As soon as we get back to New Hampshire, you're going to see Dr. Grayson. I'll make the appointment myself."

"Whatever you say."

Later that evening, Jed showered while Abbey ran downstairs to the hotel gift shop to buy a bottle of drops for the irritation she saw when she examined his eye. He usually scoffed at the notion of putting anything in or near his eye, but she assumed the Nobel banquet at the Swedish Embassy would be the motivator this time. After all, succumbing to one second of discomfort was better than showing up there with a red or swollen eye.

Unfortunately, even the prospect of that didn't convince Jed.

"It won't hurt," she told him repeatedly.

"Forget it."

"You're acting like a child."

"Well, that's sure to convince me."

"I promise it'll feel better if you let me do this."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You know why not."

Abbey shrugged. "Fine, suit yourself."

"Yeah, right." She was giving up too easily.

"I don't have time to argue with you. I haven't even showered yet. Suffice it to say, if you lose that eye, I won't have much sympathy."

"You have a wicked bedside manner, you know that?"

"So you've said," she replied as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

At times, he was more stubborn than Zoey. He was great at taking care of his wife, or tending to their children when they were ill, but he always hated taking medication for himself. Whether it was eye drops or antibiotics, Jed had a history of refusing these things.

He spent the next twenty minutes standing in front of the mirror with the bottle of drops in his hand and tipping his head back to try to administer the saline. Spying on him from the corner of the room after she quietly returned from her shower, Abbey shook her head at his failed efforts.

"Jed, let me do it," she suggested after several minutes. Her heart went out to him when she saw the way his hands were trembling in fear. She was afraid he'd hurt himself if she didn't intervene. "I'll take it slow."

Defeated, Jed apprehensively handed her the drops. "I just don't like anything in my eye."

"I know, Honey, but this is going to get rid of anything that may already be there."

"Let's just get it over with."

She persuaded him to lay flat on his back on the bed and rest his head in her lap as she held the tip of the bottle above his face. Just as she squeezed, Jed clenched his eyes shut, causing a tiny drop to fall on his lid and roll down the side of his face into his hairline.

Abbey wiped it dry. "Jed, in order for this to work, you have to keep your eye open."

"I changed my mind. I don't need eye drops."

"There might still be some sand in there."

"There isn't. You would have seen it if there was."

"It'll make your eye feel better."

"I can deal with the discomfort."

"And the redness?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because it's noticeable and there are going to be photographers there wanting to take your picture."

"I can't, Abbey."

"Sure you can. It'll be over in two seconds."

He hesitated at first, letting out a sharp breath. "Slow, okay? Really slow."

His knees were bent and the soles of his feet pressed down on the mattress. Another drop spilled from the bottle. Jed tensed up, turning his head before it could stab his eye.

"Jed!"

"I really don't want to do this!" He sat up.

"It's perfectly safe."

"I don't care."

"Honey, you need the drops. It's not just for cosmetic reasons. I want to make sure your eye is completely clean before you get an infection."

"I won't get an infection."

"Jed."

"Abbey, I don't want to talk about it anymore. It's my eye and if I say it's fine, it's fine." She stared at him speechlessly until he reached out to touch her. "I know I'm a baby about it, but I can't help it. It's just how I am. If you still want to make me feel better, my back is kinda sore."

"You're lousy patient," she teased him. "Lie down."

Abbey pushed him face-down onto the mattress and helped him out of his shirt. The tips of her fingers pressed into the tight muscles around his spine provoking a moan of relief. He loved those magic fingers. They always managed to release the tension that held his trouble spots captive.

"God, that feels good."

"You should have seen the doctor. Back problems can be serious."

He rolled his eyes at yet another medical lecture. "I told you I'll deal with it when we get home."

"It's one of the leading causes of sick days among employed adults, you know."

"Uh huh."

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "They can get in the way of extracurricular activities."

"That's never been a problem for us."

"Not yet. Just imagine a day when it is."

"It'll never happen. That I can promise."

"I'll be sure to take your word for it." She shifted her weight to her knees so he could roll over. "We're going to be late."

Jed rolled to his back. "We have some time."

"I have to get dressed. And so do you." Abbey got up, stripped out of her bathrobe, and headed to the closet to get a navy blue garment bag. She hung it in the bathroom and then rummaged through her suitcase for something else.

Reluctantly, Jed pulled himself up, twisting his body as he stretched. Rather than leaping to his feet the way she had done moments earlier, he took his time climbing out of bed and slipping back into his clothes. His eyes were glued to her the entire time he buttoned his shirt, distracting him to the point that he never even noticed he had missed the middle button. His gaze focused on the path of the flimsy pantyhose she was rolling up her thigh.

She was doing it slowly. Methodically. She raised her leg to place her heel on the large hassock at the foot of the bed, her knee bent as she ran her hands up the magnificent curve, stroking the skin gently to bring out the muscles that flexed in her calves when she bent her foot so that only her toes were touching the cushion. Sometimes, he thought she did these kinds of things just to turn him on. This time, he was right.

Abbey knew he was watching and if he had paid any attention to her face, he would have seen the reflection of the sly grin that tugged at her lips when she looked in the mirror to brush her dark auburn locks. She mesmerized him for several minutes before she disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Once she was gone, Jed finally realized he had misbuttoned his shirt. He started over and when he finished, he tucked it into his pants and tied his tie around the collar. The doorknob rattled then and it was enough to get his attention. He spun around, caught under her spell as she wiggled her way towards him in a stunning black dress he had never seen before.

It was simple, yet elegant, the way it dipped at her cleavage and peaked over her voluptuous breasts to wrap around the top of her arms. The bodice clung to her waist and the sexy swells of her hips and a fringe of shimmering black beads cut all the way up to the middle of her thigh shined as they caught the light. The ends danced just above her knees.

"Zip me up?" Se presented her back to him.

"When did you buy this dress?"

"A few weeks ago. You like it?"

"It's very nice." He turned her around after zipping her up. "Actually, it's gorgeous. Drop-dead gorgeous."

Abbey lifted her leg to the bed, causing the beads to fall to either side and reveal much more skin than he imagined. "The slits between the beads, you think it's too much?"

"No, but I guarantee you won't be posing like that at all tonight. At least, not in front of everyone else."

"Yeah?" He was clearly entranced. Just the affect she was going for.

"Abbey, that dress…you look so incredibly sexy. Just looking at you is taking my breath away."

Abbey sauntered towards him and wrapped her hands around his neck, pushing him back until the backs of his knees hit the mattress and he collapsed onto the bed. As her legs straddled him, the hem of her tight dress rose above her hips. So caught up in the way her pantyhose felt rubbing against the fabric of his shirt, Jed didn't realize that in her hand, she carried the bottle of eye drops. In a flash, she held it above him, squeezing out the saline before he could shut his eyes.

"ABBEY!"

"I had to do it!"

"I told you I didn't want anything in my eye!" It took him a minute to realize it, but Abbey was right. It didn't hurt. It didn't even sting. And after he blinked past the cloudy haze, it actually made his eye feel better.

"I was worried that you still had some sand in there."

"I took a shower. I washed it out."

"Yeah, but you were still uncomfortable. You have to admit, it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Yes, actually, it does."

"Not as much as it did a few minutes ago. And now that you know that putting drops in your eye isn't the end of the world, you can go to the sink and do it again to clean it out."

"No."

Abbey pressed down on his shoulders so she could kiss his lid when he closed his eye. "You're right. You ARE a big baby."

He sat up as she climbed off the bed. "You planned this whole thing. You came out here dressed in that thing just so you could pretend to seduce me. Did you buy the dress with this in mind?"

"Get serious, Jed. I've been planning to wear this dress for weeks."

"Talk about killing the mood."

"Besides, the girls are right outside the door. I'm dressed, my hair is done, my make-up is done, and we're five minutes away from leaving for this thing."

"So?"

"So weren't you the least bit suspicious?"

"You shouldn't have manipulated me," Jed growled.

Abbey paused for a minute, then agreed. "You're right. I was worried about your eye, but I am sorry I led you on. Will you forgive me if I promise to make it up to you later?"

"How do I know you're not just playing games?" He was teasing her now. She could tell by the soft tone of his voice. She knew he wasn't really angry. He was just disappointed.

"Because I'm telling you." Abbey slid her feet in a pair of black suede heels.

"And you're the most trustworthy person right now?"

She moved closer to him and grabbed his tie to pull him in to a kiss so passionate that Jed could barely stand when she broke it. "Yes." She cupped his chin and lifted his head. "Does your eye feel better?"

"It does a little." He caught her smirk. "Don't you dare smile."

"I'm not."

He pulled out of her embrace so he could help her with her fancy black coat. He held his hand out to her when she was ready to leave. "Let's go."

She reached for her small beaded purse as she took his hand. "I'll bring the drops with me in case you change your mind."

"Fine." He stopped when they approached the door.

"What?"

He turned to his wife and said, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For making it feel better."

"You're welcome," Abbey replied, brushing a piece of stray thread off his jacket.

"You're not off the hook though. You're still going to make it up to me later."

"Believe me, I'm looking forward to it."

TBC 


	21. Chapter 21

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 21

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: The Bartlets enjoyed their last day in DC; when she was forced to trick him to put drops in his eyes, Abbey got a glimpse at what a stubborn patient Jed can be

Summary: It's Thanksgiving back at the farm; when the family gets together in Manchester, Jed sees a side to his brother Jack that concerns him

Author's Note: I know that on the show, Jed's brother's name is John. But when this series began, we named him Jonathan and nicknamed him "Jack" because we built an entire story around the relationship between Jed and his father and we figured it would be confusing with two Johns, so to us, he was Jack and for that reason, in this story, he still goes by Jack

"Say it, Ellie!"

"I'll say it when we're done."

"No! Now!"

Zoey held up the red rectangular construction paper while Ellie ripped off a piece of scotch tape. The eight-year-old wrapped the tape around the ends to form a loop, then inserted the green construction paper inside the center and repeated the task several more times to complete the chain.

"Say it now, Ellie!"

Once twenty-seven loops were hanging off the tail of the paper bell, she took a deep breath and prepared herself to recite the Christmas rhyme while Zoey rested her elbows on the kitchen table and braced her chin in her hands to assure her sister she was listening attentively.

"Each night before bedtime, after prayers have been said, tear off one loop and hop into bed. When Christmas comes, it's easy to tell, for that is the night that you come to the bell."

Zoey watched Ellie sprinkle the paper with glitter and her young jade eyes sparkled brighter than they ever had before. Too young to remember previous holidays, she counted on Ellie to tell her about the magic of Christmas. And Ellie was up for the job. She filled her head with visions of family tree-trimming parties with everyone snacking on apple squares and hot cranberry punch while a beautiful arrangement of Christmas carols played on the old record player Jed refused to part with.

On Christmas Eve, Zoey was told, the Bartlets would gather for a special holiday dinner before midnight mass. And when they returned, it would be time for bed, Ellie continued, because Santa Claus always made his rounds in New England before anywhere else in the country.

The toddler grinned from ear to ear as she absorbed the information. She pictured herself sitting on Santa's lap, waving her gift list for his approval. It was enough to make her want to forget Thanksgiving and skip ahead to that glorious day that Ellie assured her would be as spellbinding as a twinkling star falling from its perch high in the sky.

As Zoey's thoughts drifted to the presents that would undoubtedly crowd the tree, Abbey brought her out of her Christmas daze.

"Okay, Girls, start cleaning up. When Liz and your dad get back, we're going to need that table."

Ellie started humming Jingle Bells as she gathered the scraps of paper that had fallen to the floor. Zoey did the same, desperately trying to keep up with her sister's tune.

"Mom!" Liz bellowed from the foyer, holding a basket of apples from the orchard.

"In the kitchen!"

The sound of Ellie's singing could be heard through the hall. Liz curiously followed it. "Christmas carols at Thanksgiving?"

Ellie nonchalantly offered a simple, "Yeah."

Abbey picked up the apples. "Thanks, Lizzie. Where's Dad?"

"He's coming. There weren't many apples left though."

"Not a problem. This is good."

"It's so warm outside, it doesn't even feel like Thanksgiving." Liz furrowed her brows as she examined Ellie's Christmas chain. "You guys know we're still a month away from Christmas, right?"

"Duh!" Ellie replied.

"Yeah, duh!" Zoey added.

Abbey stared down at her daughters. "Ellie and Zoey, I don't like that word. It's disrespectful."

"Lizzie knows we don't mean anything bad," Ellie said before turning to face Liz. "We're making the chain now because I want to take it to Sweden."

"Why?"

"Because I wanna count off the days till Christmas," Ellie answered. "And guess what! Tomorrow, Mommy's taking us to the mall so we can see Santa's arrival!"

"Should I be insulted that I wasn't invited?" Jed made his entrance just a few seconds behind Liz and set his basket down on the counter. "These were all the ones left by the way."

"Mommy said you wouldn't have time to go with us. She said you have shopping to do."

Eyeing his wife suspiciously, Jed replied, "Your mother is sorely mistaken, Ellie. She knows I don't go near a mall on the day after Thanksgiving unless it's to see you and your sisters visit Santa Claus."

"Except this year." Abbey met his gaze with one of her own, unyielding to his serious expression. "You're going shopping for patent leather shoes tomorrow."

"No." He shook his head adamantly. "Not tomorrow."

"Jed, we're out of time. We're leaving for Stockholm on Sunday."

"Saturday then."

"I'll need your help all morning on Saturday setting up for Zoey's birthday party."

"Abbey, come on! You're not seriously suggesting I set foot in the mall tomorrow of all days."

"Yes, I am as a matter of fact," she told him as she moved the apples to the sink to wash them. "And I've already talked to Jack about going with you."

"Even worse. You're sending me out there with my brother?"

"You and Jack could use the time to catch up. You hardly ever talk anymore. Besides, I didn't want you to have to go by yourself because I know you'd return home empty-handed."

"If I have to do this, why can't you go with me? We'll take the girls to see Santa in the morning and then we'll scour the mall for shoes."

"Santa isn't arriving until late afternoon, which works out fine for me since I need to check in at the hospital after I go with you to your appointment."

He gave her a polite nod as he walked around her to retrieve a roll of paper towels, stopping dead in his tracks when her words sank in. "Wait! Appointment? I didn't make an appointment."

"With Dr. Grayson. I made it for you. He's going to take a look at your back."

"We just got back from Washington. When..."

"I called him at home this morning. He can fit you in at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Afterwards, you'll drop me off here, you and Jack will head to the mall, and Kellie and I will bring the kids later."

"I hate the mall. You know I hate the mall. You really want to send me out there on the busiest shopping day of the year?"

"That busiest shopping day nonsense is a myth. The Saturday before Christmas is the busiest shopping day of the year. Tomorrow is known as Black Friday only because retailers will make their first real profit of the holiday season." She paused to meet Jed's baffled stare. "What, you're the only one with massive amounts of useless trivia stored in his brain?"

"Apparently not." He smiled at her. "Now that you have your apples, you want me to start peeling them?"

She handed him the peeler. "Please. My parents are running late and I still have a lot to do before Jack and Kellie get here."

"Just so you know, I'm going to absolutely despise tomorrow."

"I already knew that, Darling."

Jed took a seat at the table, peeler in one hand and an apple in the other. His frustration seeped out without a word, visible in his body language and the partial frown that curved at his lips. If there was one thing worse than going to the mall, it was going there with his brother Jack. It had been years since Jack and his family spent Thanksgiving in New Hampshire. They probably would have declined an invitation this year had it not been for the fact that they were accompanying Jed and Abbey to Sweden for the Nobel Prize festivities, a decision that surprised Jed.

Ever since their mother died, a cloud of tension had surrounded the brothers. It wasn't entirely new. A certain amount of sibling rivalry had always tainted their relationship and when they were teenagers, a myriad of bad feelings kept them emotionally distant. But after losing their mother, it got worse. They both sensed. Neither acknowledged it nor did they ignore it. At least, not until they moved past it.

It was after Zoey's birth that Jed reached out to Jack by asking him to be her godfather. That question opened the door to a path towards a healthy adult relationship, instead of the shallow interaction that used to take place only at birthdays, funerals, and holidays.

But whatever progress they made was challenged when the bitterness that used to live in their hearts was revived after their father's death.

On some level, even they knew that John Bartlet did love his boys. He held them when they were born, cared for them as they grew up, taught them how to ride their bikes and helped them with their homework. To the outside world, he was a good father. But to Jed and Jack, there was another side to that man - that was the side they feared. 

John's temper was legendary within the family and, usually, it was Jed who bore the brunt of his wrath. He was too curious, too smart, too articulate and outspoken. He asked too many questions, solved too many problems. His tenacity upset John, but his mental fortitude is what outraged him.

Jack was an observer. Whatever Jed did that angered John, Jack was sure to avoid. It seemed for a while that Jack had the one thing Jed had longed for since birth - John's acceptance. But Jack was the only one who knew that wasn't true, for he realized long before that all he had was the key to self-preservation.

Emotionally crippled the very first time he felt the sting of John's hand, Jack learned at a young age that he wasn't as strong as his older brother. So instead of fighting for what he believed, he cowered in the corner and tried to stay out of sight.

It was when Jed left for college that Jack came to accept that he could no longer escape his father's clutches unscathed. And with that understanding, came the seed of resentment, planted as the result of the overwhelming despair that kept him tethered to his grudges.

He had always looked to Jed for guidance and support, but now he felt abandoned. He was left behind to fend for himself in a house that had already traumatized him.

He finally got out, following in Jed's footsteps to attend a college thousands of miles away. The next year, when Jed married Abbey, Jack was by his side. When Jack married Kellie, Jed returned the favor. They exchanged gifts at Christmases and birthdays, called each other once in a while to say hello, but neither was ever willing to face the silent animosity between them.

And so they grew apart, separated by their own stubbornness until Zoey's christening when old hostilities were finally forgiven, only to be reclaimed nearly three years later.

Sitting at the formal dinner table that Thanksgiving evening, the family held hands while saying grace. Ellie knew better than to disturb the quiet the blessing, so she didn't utter a peep when her cousin Brad pinched her knee. She summoned her strength to ignore him when he kicked at her dangling feet. She even bit her bottom lip when he ran his fork along the lacy lavender trim of her dress.

A sweet smile lit her face as she accepted a glass of milk from her grandmother, and then accepted another one for Brad, which she held carelessly in her hands, allowing it to slip from between her fingers to bounce off his legs and soak his pants.

"HEY!" Brad screamed in a furious ten-year-old voice as he hopped out of his char. "You did that on purpose!"

"I did not!"

"Ellie?" Abbey assumed Ellie would never do such a thing intentionally, but she questioned her daughter just to be sure.

"It slipped," Ellie said, lowering her eyes.

"She's lying! She did it on purpose!"

"Brad." Jack calmed his son by calling his name.

Kellie took a couple of napkins to the mess, but Abbey stood to stop her. "Don't worry. We'll toss those in the washer and get him into a dry pair of pants."

The two women escorted Brad and on his way out of the dining room, he squinted his eyes at Ellie. Unfazed by his belligerent look, she returned the glance.

"Ellie, did it really slip?" Jed asked from across the table. She answered his question with a shrug of her shoulders. A speechless admission of guilt, he presumed. "Why would you do that?"

"He's been messing with me all night! Ever since they got here, he keeps putting his hand in my face and he's been pinching me too! He even pulled my hair before dinner! He won't leave me alone."

"Ellie, I'm sorry," Jack replied. "Jed, I had no idea what Brad was doing. He usually doesn't behave this way."

"I'm sure you'll talk to Brad..." Jed started, then turned his attention Ellie. "But Ellie, next time, you need to tell us what's happening instead of taking care of it yourself. Spilling your milk on him wasn't the best way to handle it. I want you to apologize to him when he gets back."

"Why? He started it!"

"Because two wrongs don't make a right." Oh, how he hated repeating his father's words.

"Don't worry, Ellie. He's going to apologize to you too," Jack assured her.

Small consolation for Ellie who believed her actions were perfectly justified. Unwilling to disobey Jed though, she leaned against the back of her chair with her arms folded in front of her as she waited for Brad.

"I'm sorry I spilled your milk," she said when he returned.

"See?" Brad whirled around to face Kellie. "I told you she did it on purpose!"

With her hands on his shoulder, Kellie spun him back around. "Bradley, what did we talk about?"

"Fine," he grumbled, defeated. "I'm sorry too."

Mother and son took their seats as Abbey leaned forward to whisper in her daughter's ear, "We're going to talk about this later."

A few awkward seconds passed, but then dinner resumed with Abbey's father, James, bantering with Jack over politics. Jed watched as a silent spectator, not yet ready to tell the family that he had been approached about running for office. He looked down the table to where Zoey was battling her mother's hands, insisting she could cut her own turkey. She reached for the knife, but a tap on her fingers from Abbey was enough to quiet her down.

Beside them, Liz sat bragging about her new black dress to her Aunt Kellie and her Grandma Mary. It was the one Abbey had bought her, the one she was now going to wear to the awards ceremony in Stockholm. When Mary quizzed her about a boyfriend, Jed blocked out the others so he could hear Lizzie's answer, but Liz surrendered to the rosy blush that colored her cheeks and bowed her head with a giggle.

"I don't really have one," she answered.

"Oh come on!" Kellie prodded. "You can trust us."

Suddenly, the lighthearted conversation was drowned out by the blood-curdling scream that came from the other side of the table. Covered in food, Ellie leapt from her seat, her plate tumbling to the floor, leaving her crying for relief as hot gravy trickled down her bare legs.

Abbey bolted out of her chair, but before she could reach Ellie, Jed had already sprung into action. He wiped the gravy off his daughter's legs and drenched her rosy skin with ice water from a glass pitcher on the table. Fortunately, the meal had cooled considerably since dinner began so the gravy wasn't hot enough to seriously burn her, though it stung and agitated Ellie.

Abbey rubbed the little girl's back until her cries faded into whimpers. "I know it hurts, baby."

Ellie sniffled. "It does."

"Will you let me take a look?" Abbey persuaded her to remove her hands long enough to let her examine her legs. After she did, she looked up at Jed. "She's okay," she said softly.

"My dress is all dirty now."

"I know it is. How about we go upstairs and rub some lotion on your legs and then we'll find another pretty outfit to wear?" Abbey held out her hand to Ellie.

"Okay," Ellie replied, drying her eyes with her fingers, then taking her mother's hand.

While Mary and Liz started cleaning up the food on the floor, Jack focused on his son peeking out from behind Kellie. It hadn't gone unnoticed that from the moment Ellie screamed, Brad had become unusually quiet. He leaned against the back wall as if hiding from the commotion in front of him. And when he saw the disappointed glare of his father, he ducked behind his mother without a second thought.

"Brad, I want to talk to you."

Jed paid close attention to Jack's movements, angry and intimidating. His attention shifted to Brad who was obviously nervous as he clung tight to Kellie in order to avoid Jack.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" he whined. "I swear I didn't!"

"What were you doing?" Jack questioned.

"I was just trying to put my vegetables on her plate because she didn't like them. I was just teasing her! I didn't think it would fall on her! It was an accident! I didn't mean to hurt her!"

Kellie didn't move an inch while father and son circled around her.

"Get over here!" Jack shouted when he lost his grip on Brad's arm.

"NO! I didn't mean to do it! Please, Daddy!"

The scene unearthed memories for Jed. Feelings he had long since buried in the deepest crevice of his psyche reemerged with a barrage of unexpected emotions.

He remembered a similar scenario from his own childhood where he was the target of his father's anger. He remembered the anxiety that came from one look into John's steely stare. He even remembered the feel of his mother's skirt when he curled his fingers around the fabric and twisted it over and over again, hoping that she would shield him from the punishment that turned out to be inevitable

Just like John had done with him, Jack grabbed Brad by the elbow and scooped him up into his arms. And when Jed heard the sobs that escaped Brad's lungs, he was stabbed with the memory of what came next.

He ran after them. "Jack! Wait a minute."

"What?" Jack slowed his pace into the living room, but didn't actually stop.

Jed walked in front of him. Holding his hands up, he was immediately hypnotized by the tears that pooled in his nephew's baby blues. The little boy kicked his feet and balled up his fists so tight that his knuckles were turning white. "Let's go back and enjoy our dinner."

"We will as soon as Brad and I have a little talk."

He felt powerless in the situation. His brain told him not to interfere, that Jack would never hurt Brad and that he was just overreacting. But the part of him that had been psychologically wounded by an abusive parent forced him to stay.

"It's just..."

"What?" Growing impatient, Jack's tone was sharp.

"He says it was an accident," Jed said.

"He's been out of control all evening."

"I know, but...it's Thanksgiving. They're kids, you know? Ellie's fine. Abbey said she's okay. She's not hurt. They were just picking on each other the way kids do."

"The dinner table isn't the place for these kinds of shenanigans." If there was one thing Jed hated more than repeating his father's words, it was when Jack did it.

"You're right, it isn't. But they're kids being kids. Ellie spilled the milk on him, he was trying to pass his vegetables on to her."

"You can handle Ellie however you want, but Brad knows better than to act like that at the dinner table, especially at someone else's house."

"I believe him when he says he didn't mean to hurt her."

"Jed, this is between me and my son. Let me handle it."

Jed's instincts had taken over. The anguish he saw in Brad reminded him of the times his own father had threatened discipline. It was always physical. Always painful. He could still feel his skin burn after every blow. He could still see the bruises he was forced to cover up at school. Deep down, he could still remember being paralyzed with fear every time he thought he might be punished.

He could see that same fear in Brad.

"He's scared of you!" he yelled when Jack brushed past him. "Look at him. He's terrified." Jack stopped and turned around, but didn't say anything. When he continued walking, Jed called out, "You have to remember what that's like."

The implication was clear. Jack lowered Brad to the ground and sent him into the other room. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think?"

"Don't play games, Jed. You said I have to remember what that's like...being terrified. What does that mean?"

Jack wondered if Jed was spoiling for a confrontation over their childhood, but Jed took a different approach. This time, it wasn't about them. It was about Brad. "He's scared of you. You're reacting out of anger and your son is terrified. Am I the only one with déjà vu?"

"I feel confident in saying yes."

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

Jack dismissed his words. "He's not terrified. He's upset that he's about to get in trouble."

"You may think he's just upset, but I recognize that look. He's scared. It's the worse feeling in the world. And seeing that, I have to ask. Why is Brad so scared of you?"

"If you have something to say, Jed..."

"You're going to tell me it's none of my business..."

"You're damn right I am."

"But I'm speaking up because what I saw worries me a great deal." 

"I didn't do anything, so what is it that you saw?"

"You. That's what I saw. You didn't have to do anything. It was the way you picked him up. The way he tried to run from you. The way he was pleading with you not to hurt him."

"He never said anything about me hurting him! And you know what, I resent the hell out of what you're implying!"

"I don't think I'm wrong."

"I'm going to raise my son the way I see fit. I don't owe you or anyone else an explanation."

"He's crying."

"Kids cry! The only reason Brad is crying right now is because he knows he was out of line and he doesn't want to get in trouble. Your girls never cry when they get in trouble?"

"My girls don't look at me the way Brad was looking at you."

For the first time, Jed saw something he never thought he'd see. Maybe it was just his sensitive imagination conjuring up something that wasn't really there. Or maybe, he thought, the demons that made John Bartlet so angry were alive and well and now haunting his youngest son.

The two brothers stood still, speechlessly grounded to their spots as Brad ran back to his mother.

TBC 


	22. Chapter 22

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 22

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Abbey set up an appointment for Jed with her colleague Dr. Grayson; during Thanksgiving dinner, the bickering between Ellie and her cousin Brad leads Jed to see a darker side of his brother Jack's personality when Brad seems to be afraid of his father

Summary: Jed and Abbey learn what's wrong with his back; Jed is grumpy about his day of doctor's appointments and shopping

Author's Note: Chapters 22 and 23 were originally written as one chapter, but because it was so long, I decided to split it up into two. This chapter is short, but the next one will be really long!

"Leave it alone."

Abbey's voice held a warning so stern that Jed stopped dead in his tracks. Though he was used to it by now, her uncanny ability to predict his actions before he had even fully planned them was irritating. He turned an incredulous eye towards her.

"What?"

"You were headed towards the model of the human hand. Need I remind you what happened the last time you picked up one of the models in a doctor's office?" Remembering how Jed mishandled a similar model during her OB/GYN appointment when she was pregnant with Zoey, Abbey stared at him from her chair across the room.

Jed couldn't forget the incident either. He thought back to the fractured bones splattered on the floor of the office and Abbey's refusal to help him out of the messy situation. She donned that same disapproving glare even back then. Annoyed, he railed against it. "For your information, I was not headed towards the hand."

"Really?"

"Really," he confirmed. But she knew him too well to actually believe the denial. So, under his breath in a voice just loud enough for her to hear, he said, "I was headed towards the model of the leg."

"Why do you have to play with everything? Why can't you just sit down and wait patiently?"

"Because I hate this place. I hate doctors' offices. I hate doctors."

Abbey raised her left brow. "Yeah?"

"I don't mean surgeons. Just...you know...doctors who poke and prod at their patients. At least you knock them unconscious before you slice them open."

"I can see how that would be more comforting to you." She flipped through the pages of her magazine.

"I don't even know why we're here." Jed leaned on the edge of the exam table.

"We're here because you hurt your back."

"My back is fine."

"I suspect it is today, but the last thing we want is for it to act up while we're in Sweden."

He rolled his eyes. "Since when is 'we' part of the equation?"

Abbey threw her magazine on the counter and stood. "You know what, you've been making comments like that all morning. Enough with the passive aggressive sarcasm. I get it. You're mad at me for dragging you here."

"No kidding." Jed freely admitted his frustration over the itinerary she had set up for today. "And it isn't just here. It's what's waiting for me when I leave here."

"What's really bothering you? The fact that you have to buy patent leather shoes or that you have to do it with your brother?" Abbey gave him several seconds to acknowledge the question, but he didn't respond. "I didn't make the rules for the events in Stockholm, Jed. And I didn't set up this shopping trip just to bug you."

"No, but that was an added bonus, admit it." His belligerence faded into a smile when he teased her.

"You're going to have to talk to your brother eventually."

"Stop reminding me."

She circled around to face him when he moved away. "Why won't you tell me what happened?"

"You know what happened. We had a disagreement."

"All I know is I was helping Ellie change and when I came back downstairs, it was obvious I had just interrupted a conversation between you and Jack. You never told me what it was I walked in on."

"It's not important." Jed dismissed her curiosity the same way he had the night before. He couldn't discuss it because if he did, he'd have to confront similar memories from his childhood. He wasn't ready to do that again. Not here. Not now.

His agitation was apparent. Abbey cupped his chin and lifted his head to look him squarely in the eye. His eyes, so bold and expressive, held no tales. She assumed the hostility between the brothers had something to do with their father and one glance into Jed's eyes only confirmed her suspicions. "It's important to me."

"Abbey, I really don't think this is the time or the place..."

Before he could dissuade her, Dr. Grayson knocked on the door. "Hi there."

Abbey headed towards him to sneak a peek at the chart he held in his hand. "Do we know what's going on?"

"We sure do," the doctor replied. "It's what we thought."

"Where?"

"L-4."

"What do we want to do?"

"My recommendation is steroids and rest for the short term. We'll have to work out a treatment plan after he gets back from Stockholm. How long has he had this pain anyway?"

"A few months. He hurt his back over the summer, but he was too stubborn to have it checked out like I suggested."

"Tell me again, what was he doing when he hurt it?"

Abbey bashfully refused the question. "Like we said before...it was housework...that's what he was doing. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Jed met her gaze then, amused by the redness that colored her cheeks. No way would she be willing to inform her colleague of the recreational activities of that hot summer day. "I'd say it was a little something out of the ordinary, Abbey. I mean, there was an extraordinary moment or two that afternoon. Wouldn't you agree?"

Her bottom lip curled under and she tightened her jaw to contour her features.

"So what happened?" the doctor asked again.

"Barbecuing." Abbey never took her eyes off Jed as she answered. "It was the Fourth of July and we had a lot of friends and family over. Jed was barbecuing."

"Barbecuing?" Dr. Grayson's bewildered expression mirrored Jed's.

"Yes. I told him to let my father help, but when he reached for two giant bags of charcoal briquettes, did he listen? He winced in pain and spent the rest of the day trying to loosen up his back. It's been hurting him ever since."

"I have my good days," Jed interjected.

"Well, the back might be on its way to healing itself."

"You think so?" Abbey asked.

"It could turn out to be a problem, but it's not as bad as I originally thought it would be."

"That's great news!"

"L-4 is the most common place for this kind of injury, so if he behaves himself and takes care of it, I think he'll be okay in the long run."

"All right, look..." Jed approached the two doctors. "I know you guys have your own medical speak and whatnot, but I'm begging you. Will one of you please tell me what's wrong with my back in plain English please?"

"You have a herniated disk in your lumbar vertebral column," Abbey told him.

"Okay, that I understand. Now, how do we fix it?"

"Well, there are a number of options. Therapy, exercise, steroids, and if it gets worse, maybe surgery, but for now, I think we'd be better off with medication until you get back from Sweden." Dr. Grayson turned to address Abbey. "What do you think?"

"Sounds good. He doesn't really take much medication though, so his system is quite sensitive."

"I'll prescribe a conservative dose of muscle relaxants and an anti-inflammatory."

"Perfect."

"Yeah, perfect." Jed echoed her words, but it was obvious he didn't share the sentiment. As the doctor pulled out his prescription pad, Jed headed towards him.

"It's a very low dose so remember to take the steroids twice a day and the muscle relaxants once a day. The relaxant might make you drowsy or dizzy so I suggest taking it at bedtime until you get used to its affects. Got it?"

"Got it." He stuffed the prescription in his coat pocket. "Hey, Doc, say my back was hurting right now. In your expert opinion, would you recommend I take one of these muscle relaxants to alleviate my pain?"

"You could, but it would make you sleepy."

"So you'd have no objection to me taking one now as long as I went home to sleep?"

"Don't even think about it." Abbey tone was stern. If she allowed him to, he'd do anything to get out of shopping for those shoes.

"What? I'm just following the doctor's orders."

"You have plans this afternoon that can't be rescheduled, Jed. If your back is bothering you, I'm sure Dr. Grayson would be more than happy to give you a steroid injection right now."

Injection? For a man who wasn't fond of needles, that wasn't a reasonable alternative. What's more, she knew it. "You have a real mean streak, Abigail."

"No one brings it out of me the way you do, Sunshine." She snatched the prescription out of his pocket. "Come on. we'll drop this off at the drug store and I'll bring it to you when I take the kids to see Santa. In the meantime, you've gotta get to the mall."

"I can hardly wait," he grumbled as he gathered his coat and followed her out the door.

TBC 


	23. Chapter 23

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 23

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: During Thanksgiving dinner, the bickering between Ellie and her cousin Brad leads Jed to see a darker side of his brother Jack's personality when Brad seems to be afraid of his father (chapter 21)

Summary: While shopping for patent leather shoes for Sweden, Jed and Jack deal with some uncomfortable issues from the past

Author's Note: Chapters 22 and 23 were originally written as one chapter, but because it was so long, I decided to split it up into two. This is a continuation of chapter 22

That afternoon, the sound of the busy cash registers rang repeatedly as scores of people formed a line that curved around two chairs near the front of the shoe store. It was in these two chairs that Jed and Jack hid from the crowd of shoppers and the overzealous sales clerks scurrying up and down the aisles.

"The shoes aren't just going to jump off the shelves, you know," Jack informed his brother.

The snippy undertone in his voice was easily detected. Jed returned his sour glance with one of his own. "I need a minute."

"You've had fifteen. It's time to get your shoes so that we can get out of here."

"You didn't have to come."

"Abbey asked me to."

"Right, and we all know that you do whatever anyone asks of you."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Jed closed his mouth just as quickly as he opened it. His hands up, he said, "Forget it."

That one sarcastic statement ignited a flame that Jack refused to ignore. He inhaled a deep breath, then added fuel to the fire. "You have one hell of a nerve being mad at me, you know that?"

"Excuse me?"

"After the way you undermined my authority in front of my son last night, I think I'm the one who should be angry."

"Aren't you?"

"Damn right I am. I just don't know where you get off being the same."

It would have been so easy for Jed to rattle off a laundry list of grievances. In fact, with very little effort, he could have drawn a comparison between Jack and John that would have sent a chill up his spine. But he resisted the temptation. "Let's not get into this here."

"I'd be more than willing to go home and get into it in front of our wives and our children."

"Fine, Jack. You wanna do this here? You want me to tell you exactly what was wrong with the way you treated Brad last night?"

"There was nothing wrong with the way I treated Brad. He's my son, Jed. Not yours. Try to remember that the next time you barge in..." He stopped when the line that shielded them began to filter out, leaving them targets to a tall male sales clerk who eagerly approached them.

"May I help you with something, Sir?" he asked Jed.

"Uh...we're just..."

"My brother is looking for a pair of black patent leather shoes," Jack said casually.

"Black patent leather shoes. You're in luck, we just got a shipment of new styles last week. Follow me." He led them down the aisle past an array of cute little mary janes.

"Not exactly what I had in mind," Jed mumbled as he scanned the racks.

The clerk handed him a pair of closed-toe strapped sandals with a black satin bow in the front. "This is already our top seller. It's practically flying off the shelf. Little girls just love them!"

"Really?" They would look beautiful on Ellie's feet, Jed thought as he battled the urge to correct the clerk and tell him the shoes he was looking for were for him.

Jack beat him to the punch. "I'm wondering if you also carry any patent leather shoes for adult men."

"For adult men? No, we don't. Is that what you wanted?"

"No." Jed replied immediately. "I was looking for my daughter. We were just curious about whether or not men actually wear these shoes...you know, in public."

The clerk shook his head and with that sign of disapproval, Jed gave him a nod and proceeded towards the register with the pair he picked out for Ellie.

"So that's how a Nobel Laureate deals with a difficult situation?" Jack couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's discomfort.

"We'll go to another store and this time, let's just browse before we ask for anything."

"Whatever you say." When Jed looked at him, Jack added, "See? That's me doing whatever people tell me to do."

"This day is miserable enough without your smartass comments."

"You're right. There's only room for one smartass in the family and that's been your job since the day you were born." He was obviously looking for a fight.

Jed bit his tongue until they left the store, but as they roamed the busy path towards the other shops, he finally broke the tension. "You were out of control last night."

"What?" His voice was so low that Jack wasn't sure if he heard him correctly.

"With Brad. I was afraid of what you were going to do."

"For your information, I was going to talk to Brad. That's all."

"That's all," Jed sputtered, unconvinced. "A boy doesn't get that look on his face just because his father wants to talk to him. He was as terrified of you as you and I were of..."

Jack waited for him to finish. In a way, he even wanted to hear it. But Jed let the thought linger without a conclusion. "Go ahead. Say it. As terrified of me as you and I were of our dad. That's where you were going."

Jed rejected the bait as they walked in silence to another department store. If there was ever a time that he wished he could be sucked into a trap door far underground that would allow him to tunnel out of a situation, this was it. Part of him wished he had never agreed to this shopping trip, that he had told Abbey it was out of the question after the confrontation with Jack the night before. The other part of him hoped that by the end of the day, he and his brother could come to an understanding of sorts and start the journey to Sweden without the emotional baggage.

Jack wanted the same. Though he wouldn't admit it, Jed's words the night before had hit a nerve so deep that he tossed and turned all night, unable to rid himself of the image of his sweet little boy clutching his neck and crying. The truth was, he had never found it easy to be an even-tempered father, especially to a rambunctious boy like Brad, but the past few weeks had tested his patience like never before.

He looked at his brother and for a split second, he contemplated removing the mask of hostility to deal with the real issues, the ones he had avoided for years. But as Jed fumbled with a pair of scratched patent leather shoes on the rack, Jack reconsidered. "Those look like they've been passed over one too many times."

"Fine." Jed picked up another pair.

"They're not shiny enough and I doubt they will be even if you have them professionally shined."

"They have to have a certain level of shine?"

"You're going to be in the presence of Kings. Do you really want it to look like you just pulled your shoes off a clearance rack?"

"Good point." Jed returned the shoe and began to rummage through the others.

"None of these look acceptable."

"Are you always like this or are you being difficult just to annoy me?"

"A little bit of both."

The awkwardness festered between them. Jed brushed past him on his way to another rack and as Jack trailed behind, he thought carefully about his next move. He had two choices now. He could wallow in his anger and compound the strain of their argument while continuing to be the oppositional jackass he had been all morning. Or he could reach out to Jed and admit that he needed his help.

It wouldn't be a task he'd particularly enjoy, but Jed was the only other person who knew what it was like to grow up the son of John Bartlet. The only one who shared the demons of the past and the fears of the future.

The latter choice was the most attractive to Jack, but his doubts haunted him. To him, it seemed as if Jed had moved past the abuse that marred their childhood. He had overcome those painful years to create a loving and stable home for his family. Acknowledging his inability to do the same would be conceding to his older brother, and making a confession that would render him inferior was out of the question.

It was a feat he just wasn't strong enough to handle with grace. So with his eyes piercing into Jed's, he asked, "How do you do it?"

"What?"

"How do you compare being a father to three precious girls with being a father to a boy as hyper and rowdy as Brad?" This wasn't the direction he was hoping to take, but it was what slipped out of his mouth.

"Did I miss something? What are you talking about?"

"You can't tell me that you have as much trouble with your girls as I have with Brad. You've never raised a boy. You can't begin to understand what I have to do to keep him in line. I know you don't approve of how I handled things last night, but you have no idea what goes on in my house."

"Okay, first of all, if you think that raising three daughters is a piece of cake, especially when one of them is a teenager, I have news for you. Just spend a day with Elizabeth and you'll change your tune. And second, you're right. I don't know what you have to do to keep Brad in line, but I pray to God you're not using Dad as your example."

"Stop beating around the bush! Do I hit him? Is that what you're getting at? That's what you've been wanting to know since last night. Why don't you just ask?" And there it was. That flash of anger provoked by an implication that poisoned the entire conversation.

Jed swallowed hard past the lump in his throat while he mentally braced himself for what he was about to say next. "I don't have to ask. There are some things kids just can't hide. It's written all over his face."

"Are you accusing me?"

"I'm saying that I believe that child is afraid of you and I believe it's because you get physically rough with him. And if that's true then I feel the need to let you know, without hesitation, that when I'm around, it isn't going to happen. I'll protect him."

"The way you protected me when we were kids," Jack bitterly replied.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I don't know the root of all this animosity, but you're sorely mistaken if you think that I didn't do whatever I could to protect you."

"Until you left."

"What? When I went to college...is that what you're talking about?"

"No." He lied. If he had been able to summon the courage, he would have explained that it wasn't just that Jed had left. It was that he had distanced himself from the whole family.

Everyone, including Jack, had been practically cut out of his life his first year at Notre Dame. It was a calculated move because for Jed, it was his first taste of freedom - and the only way he could survive the psychological scars of an abusive childhood.

He had no idea how much that decision affected his brother. And looking at him now, he still couldn't believe that's what crippled their relationship. "Don't tell me that you're pissed at me after all these years because I left home without you."

"I'm not." Of course he was. Jack felt abandoned. He was bare and vulnerable to his father's iron fist after Jed shut him out. But Jack wasn't going to stand there and assume the role of victim. The theatrics that played out in his mind were better suited for a television movie than a discussion between two adult men.

"You were fifteen years old, Jack. It's not like you were a child."

"I said I'm not talking about that. Just drop it, all right?"

For the first time in his life, Jed felt a pang of guilt about leaving his baby brother. He stood speechless for the next several seconds and when he finally found his voice, all he could offer was a weak explanation. "I never imagined that he would turn on you."

"You're not serious." A twinge of incredulity didn't go unnoticed. "When you left, you lumped us all into the same category. You couldn't talk to Dad, so you stopped talking to me and Mom as well. That's fine. That was your choice to make, but don't stand here and tell me that it never occurred to you that Dad would find a new target."

"It didn't."

"All those times I called you at your dorm or your apartment in Indiana, you never called me back. You never returned my letters. It wasn't because you were too busy. It was because you knew how miserable I was and you didn't want to hear about it!"

"It's not that I didn't want to hear about it!" Jed shouted so he could be heard over Jack's voice. He looked around and calmed himself before continuing. "It's that I had no idea what to do about it. All our lives, you were his prince. The one perfect child. The one he named after himself. The one who could do no wrong."

"Until you were gone and that's when everything I did WAS wrong."

"How was I supposed to know that? It's not like you were the one he yelled at every night."

"I didn't get yelled at every night because I learned when to back off. I didn't feel the need to challenge him every hour of every day."

"Right. You just hid in your room and let me do it." Like a shock that jolted his system, Jed found a hint of his own resentment.

"What did you want me to do, Jed? Stand up next to you every time you told him he was a worthless bastard? Would you have been happier if I had done that?"

"I never called him a worthless bastard. You're just talking out of your ass now."

"You don't have to say the words for everyone to understand that's what you mean. That's what you always meant. It's how you treated him. And now that he's gone, it's how you treat me." Tempers were running high now.

"Did I fall in a rabbit hole? Where the hell is this coming from?"

"The way you barged in on me and Brad last night. You made me look weak in front of him and you had no right to do that!"

"You ARE weak! I'm sorry, Jack, but any parent who can't control his child without beating the crap out of him is weak."

"You arrogant, sanctimonious..."

"We're in a public place."

"I never beat the crap out of my kid! Do I spank him sometimes? Yes. One smack on the rear with an open hand on his clothed bottom. I never use a belt or anything else that would actually hurt him. I have NEVER put a bruise on that boy and if you don't believe me, you can ask him!"

The exchange flew out at such a rapid pace that both Jed and Jack were caught by surprise. Jack's lips were quivering and Jed didn't know if it was because he was preparing to say something else or if he was trying to stop himself from digging any deeper.

He faced his younger brother, humbled by the unexpected outburst. "Okay."

"That's all you've got to say?"

"I don't know what else I could say. If I could change the past, I would. Hell, if I could go back just a few minutes ago..."

"You can't. And neither can I."

"Jack..."

"Let's just get the shoes and go."

Twenty minutes passed before Jed finally left the store. Jack was wandering just outside the exit, enjoying his last puff on his cigarette when Jed walked out. Inside the bag he held in his right hand were the shoes he had bought for Ellie, but it was the bag in his left hand that caught Jack's attention.

He stood and greeted him curiously. "You found a pair?"

"I did. A nice pair of shiny black patent leather shoes that would be perfect for Zoey."

"For crying out loud..."

"What do you want me to do? They only had a few and they were either too big or too tight. It's apparently unheard of for any man in this state to buy a pair of decent patent leather shoes that fit. You know why? Because the whole concept is stupid! It's a dumb tradition and the only reason it's still in place is because no one has the nerve to fight it."

"Then be the trailblazer."

"I would except Abbey would probably kill me," he muttered. "One more store and then we'll officially give up."

They walked the span of the mall side by side with an uncomfortable vibe that showed in their awkward swagger. Jack turned several glances towards his brother. Jed pretended not to notice, but each time he saw it out of the corner of his eye, he was tempted to reopen the lines of communication. He didn't though. He simply continued the trek without uttering a single word.

"One time," Jack finally said.

"What?"

"One time, I lost my temper and hit Brad." It was a soft admission, laced with obvious remorse.

Jed stopped walking. Jack did the same.

"How bad?"

"It was about three weeks ago."

"What happened?"

"We have these neighbors who have a basketball hoop at the end of their driveway...facing the street. I don't know why. They're just asking for trouble. I told Brad so many times not to play in the street. I told him how dangerous it is. I told him. Over and over again, I told him."

Jed could hear the anguish in Jack's voice, even now. "Kids don't always listen."

"No, they don't. One day, I was driving home from work and there he was with all his friends, dribbling his ball right on the pavement. I called for him and sent him home to meet me there. I told him he was grounded for two weeks. He got so angry that he threw the ball at the house...broke our bay window. So I pulled him in by the hood of his sweatshirt. I yelled at him...loud. So loud that I was sure the whole neighborhood could hear me. And Brad...he covered his ears. That infuriated me. I don't know why it was such a trigger, but that's when I lost control. I yanked his hand away from his ear and he tried to push my arm. I smacked him, Jed. I smacked him right across the face with the back of my hand...just the way Dad used to do. I did it so hard that he fell backwards."

"How bad did you hurt him?"

"He had a bruise on his cheek. A really big one. He burst into tears and ran from me, locked himself in his room and would only speak to his mother, who by the way, also wouldn't speak to me. I went for a drive because I just had to get out of that house. All I could think about that night was Dad. I kept seeing Brad's face in my mind and it reminded me so much of yours."

"Mine?"

"Those times when you and Dad would fight, you had that same look in your eyes - sadness, fear, desperation...like you'd give anything to get along with him."

"I didn't know you noticed."

"I did. I just didn't know how to help. I was too much of a coward to do anything, so I stayed away from him."

Jed nodded. "We both did what we had to do back then. My concern now is Brad. Did you talk to him?"

"Of course. But how do you reassure a kid after that? That's why he was afraid of me last night. It was the first time I had been angry with him since that day. I'm sure he thought I was going to hurt him. I can stand here and tell you over and over I wasn't, but you're not going to believe me anymore than he would."

"Can you tell me with one-hundred percent certainty that you won't ever lose your temper like that again?"

"No." His answer was harsh, but honest. "Can you tell me you won't ever lose your temper with Elle, Liz, or Zoey?"

"I lose my temper with them as frequently as any father, but I can tell you that it'll never turn physical."

"Then I guess you're a better man than I am, Jed." Jack took a few steps.

"We're not done."

"Yeah, we are. Let's go find those damn shoes."

A half hour and a dozen shoes later, Jed wiggled his foot into a brand new pair of fitted black patent leather shoes. The shiny tips reflected the fluorescent lights and the shadow of the female clerk's face as she pressed down on his toes.

"Do they feel good?" she asked.

"They feel great. I am worried about how slippery they are on this carpet though."

"Just go outside and scuff them up on the concrete."

"They won't look worn out if I do that?"

"Not if you don't go overboard."

"After what we went through to find them, don't worry."

She smiled. "If there's nothing else, I'll ring these up for you."

"Okay." Jed returned the shoes to their box. "Wait!" he called out just as the clerk turned away.

"Yes?"

"Can you help me with one other thing? See, my daughter is also going to this fancy awards ceremony and well...she has a black satin dress, but she's been begging us to buy her a pair of satin pumps...you know, the ones with that sparkly stuff on it. I don't know what it's called."

"Say no more. What size is she?"

"Five and a half or six. She's only fourteen though, so I don't want a real heel. Just something she can walk in and feel a bit more grown-up."

"Have you seen the dress?"

"Yes."

"And you'd be able to tell me which shoe would match?"

"They don't all match?"

Spoken like a true father, the clerk noted. "Not all of them, no. Some have crystals and designs, some of them have rhinestones in black or silver with trim. Which one will work depends on the dress."

"So what you're telling me is this will be harder than I'm thinking."

"Well, if I guide you through it, I'm sure we can probably find something similar. Wait right here and I'll bring out a few of our most popular teen styles."

Jack collapsed onto a cushioned chair. "We're never leaving this mall."

"Sorry. It won't take long, I promise." Jed sat on the one across from him and when his eyes found Jack's, he saw the anger replaced by a spark of compassion. "What?"

"Is this your first time buying shoes for Liz?"

"It's my first time buying her pumps."

"What the hell are pumps anyway?"

"It's a low-cut shoe without the super high heels or the fasteners you see on little girl shoes." He couldn't avoid Jack's glare. "What? I've been shoe shopping with Abbey dozens of times."

"I think it interesting that you spent all day complaining about finding your own shoes and now that that's finished, you're still not satisfied."

"I'm not doing this to try to prove I'm a better father than you are if that's what you're getting at."

Jack instantly squashed Jed's defensiveness. "I didn't think you were. I just think it's nice."

Jed was touched by his sincerity. He allowed a slight pause before he reapproached their earlier discussion. "Look, you asked me if I'm sure I will never hurt my daughters and I said I am."

"We're done with that conversation."

"No, we're not. I want you to know the reason I said what I did is because I've already been where you are. I've never hurt my daughters, that's true, but there was a time when I was scared I would."

"When?"

"My wedding night. That was when Abbey told me she was pregnant the first time. Throughout the pregnancy, all I kept thinking about was how I could be a different father to my child than Dad was to me. But then Elizabeth was born and when I held her in my arms and stared at this defenseless little baby who looked up at me with the most angelic face in the world, it put some of my fears to rest. My concern shifted and instead of worrying about hurting her, I started worrying about how she was going to feel about me."

"About you?"

"I didn't want her to ever be scared of me. I didn't want her to feel about me the way I felt about Dad."

"She worships the ground you walk on. That's clear to anyone who knows you two."

"Now that we've learned how to deal with each other, sure. The thing is, I adore all three of my daughters, but I don't always understand them, which leads to some pretty strong arguments. That's what I worried about - the fights - until once when Lizzie was little. She made me so angry that I did yell at her. I punished her. And, eventually, she got over it. But as mad as I was, it never crossed my mind to lash out physically. I can't imagine it ever will."

"I wish it hadn't with me and Brad."

"You know, Jack, I was wrong before. You're not like Dad. Dad never felt any remorse. Not back then, not even a few years ago. If he had, maybe we could have had a real relationship with him. Maybe it would have been just a one-time thing, like you and Brad."

His words put Jack at ease. "You believe that?"

"I do. You can repair this thing with Brad. You can show him it'll never happen again."

"You sound awfully certain."

"I'm a Nobel Laureate. I know all."

"You're gonna hold that Nobel Prize over my head for the rest of my life, aren't you?"

"You betcha! Besides, if you ever do lash out that way at Brad again, I'll put my foot so far up your ass, you'll be sneezing shoe laces."

"Patent leather shoe laces?"

"You're mocking my new shoes? I'll have you know these shoes are going with me to all the Nobel festivities. They will spend the evenings dancing with a Queen."

"I'll be sure to inform Abbey."

"What makes you think I wasn't talking about Abbey?" Jed grinned with affection for his wife.

"I should have known," Jack replied in the same manner.

"Speaking of which, Abbey and Kellie should be here soon with the kids. I'll warn you though, Ellie gets so excited about seeing Santa Claus, you and I will be an afterthought."

"Maybe her enthusiasm will rub off on Brad. He learned the truth about Santa last Christmas."

"How?"

"He's at that age where kids talk."

"That's a shame. Believing in the magic of the holiday got us through some pretty rough Christmases when we were little. At least it did for me."

"Me too."

"If it were up to me, I'd make sure no child ever stopped believing in the spirit of Santa Claus. The world is just too cruel a place without a fairytale or two to cushion the disappointments."

"Until you find out it's all a lie and the people you trusted to be straight with you have been fooling you your entire life." His skepticism leaking out, Jack bowed his head.

"You're really the life of the party, aren't you?"

"I'm just saying..."

"I liked believing in Santa. I liked thinking, as a kid, that beyond the four walls of our house, there was someone looking out for us, that even if all the other days of the year basically sucked, there was one day that someone cared if we were happy or sad."

"And when you were faced with the fact that there is no such person..."

"There is. He may not wear a big red coat and ho ho every December, but there is such a person. When did you stop turning to God, Jack?"

His despair was clearly defined in his posture at that moment. Slumped forward over his thighs, his elbows rested on his knees and his head drooped below his shoulders. It was obvious he was struggling with more than just his role as a father. "I haven't. Most days, he just isn't listening."

could have pursued the discussion, but he decided to wait for another time. Instead, he took new direction. "I don't think I've told you how grateful I am that you're going to Sweden with us. It means a lot to me that you'll be there when I accept this award."

"I didn't really have a choice. If I missed it, I'd always be known as the brother of a Nobel Laureate who didn't show up for his shining moment. At least this way, I can steal some of the spotlight." A small smile framed Jack's lips.

"Hey, I'll gladly step aside and let you have all the glory."

"What's the catch?"

"No catch. I'll do it as a favor to you...provided, of course, you're properly dressed for the festivities."

"Ah, now I get it. No way are you going to pawn off your shiny new patent leather shoes on me."

"I hear they're so comfortable, you'll never want to take them off."

"Good. Then wear them for eternity and let me know how it goes."

"Selfish jerk," Jed mumbled.

"Damn right," Jack returned.

 d h sThere were still a myriad of unresolved issues between them, but Jed and Jack paved a path towards a more healthy relationship that day. And with a little bit of work, they were confident they could make it down the long road that lay ahead.

TBC 


	24. Chapter 24

Rating: NC-17

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 24

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed and his brother Jack talked about unpleasant issues stemming from their childhood while shopping for Jed's patent leather shoes

Summary: The trip to Sweden gets off to a rocky start

"Right there! Don't stop! Oh God!"

Standing against the metal door of the airplane lavatory, Abbey slid her hands under his collar and bore her nails into the skin on his back. She held him so tightly that the tips tracked across his flesh nearly drawing blood as she struggled to catch her breath. Jed's hot tongue vibrated all the way down her neck as his erection bulged against her belly.

He reached her waist then and in one fierce motion energized by raw erotic passion, he tugged on her brown suede skirt, ripping the button in the back and forcing it down her hips along with her panties. From the waist down, she was completely nude now except for those tall brown winter boots that covered her shapely calves all the way up to her knees.

Abbey kicked herself free of the pile of clothing when Jed lifted her up onto the cramped counter beside the sink. She held on tight, her fingers laced around his neck to keep her steady. He backed up, took a stiletto heel in each hand, and bent her knees before he plunged inside her.

It was bold, what they were doing, but they didn't care. So what if they were on a commercial flight to Stockholm? So what if dozens of people were lined up just outside the bathroom and dozens more filled the seats right across aisle? At the moment, they were just Jed and Abbey, lost in the heat of their love affair. And no one else mattered.

"Harder, Jed!" she cried as soon as he stroked that sensuous spot nestled deep inside her feminine walls, the spot that drove her out of her mind.

"Hold on, Babe!" Her legs were wrapped around his back. The heel of her suede boots scratched his skin. Her muscles tensed up and her response escalated. He thrust into her even faster, pounding her flesh as the friction between their sweaty bodies exploded into a wave of mind-numbing orgasms.

"Jed...God, Jed, right there...Jed!"

Her voice faded slowly, one syllable quieter than the last until suddenly, he was zapped back to reality. Like a bucket of cold water stinging his most intimate parts, Jed heard his name called in a different tone. A more serious one. A more demanding one. One that destroyed his fantasy with an alarming nudge to the arm to get his attention.

"Jed? Jed? Jed, did you bring Zoey's diaper bag?"

Talk about killing the mood. He used to think there was nothing Abbey could say that would ever turn him off. He was wrong. "What?"

"Zoey's diaper bag. Did you bring it like I asked you to?"

If he wasn't fully aware of his surroundings now, a bit of turbulence was enough to do the trick. He blinked through the haze that clouded his vision and turned his head to see Abbey sitting across the aisle with Ellie and Liz sitting on her other side. He looked over to his right where a sleeping Zoey was slumped in her seat.

It wasn't all a dream. They actually were soaring high above the clouds on the way to Stockholm. It's just that his imagination had veered off on a salacious detour with thoughts of unbridled sex immediately after take-off.

It took him a few seconds to shrug it off. With a deep breath, he replied, "She's potty trained. I didn't think we'd need it."

"I specifically asked you to bring it."

"For what?"

"She could still have an accident. Besides, I was going to use it to carry extra sweaters and jackets when we go sightseeing."

"Use a regular duffle bag."

"Am I supposed to close my eyes and blink to produce one?"

"You didn't bring one?"

"No because I assumed we'd use the diaper bag. You saw me lay it out last night so we wouldn't forget it. If you didn't think we needed it, then would have been a good time to say something."

"It didn't occur to me until this morning. We'll have to make do without it."

"And without the camera I put inside."

"Why would you put the camera inside the diaper bag?"

"Because we were going to TAKE the diaper bag! I figured it was as safe a place for it as any."

"Fine. We'll buy another camera."

"All because you didn't bother to tell me you left behind the diaper bag. I swear, I don't know where your head is sometimes."

The truth was, neither did he, though he wasn't about to admit it. Annoyed by her criticism, he refused to agree with her. Instead, he sat back and pretended to listen while he allowed himself to retrace the events of the day, from its calm and playful start to its more stressful climax.

That morning, as the first hint of sunlight streamed through the gauzy bedroom curtains, Jed glanced over at Abbey. She was sound asleep on her back, a halo of dark auburn tresses fanning out over her pillow. He pulled back the covers and straddled her legs, knowing how much she enjoyed waking up with a gentle kiss to her lips.

"Hey." He smiled when she opened her eyes.

"Hey yourself."

"I know I've told you this before, but you're never more beautiful than first thing in the morning. So sweet and innocent. No makeup. No fancy hairdo. Just you."

His finger found her jawline and he traced it to her chin, his thumb lingering there for a moment.

"You don't fool me with the sweet talk. I know what you're after," she teased him.

"I'm hurt that you would think my motives are anything less than genuine." Though the sentiment was sincere, it couldn't be denied that Abbey was right and Jed was indeed hoping for a little action before they headed to the airport.

"You know, I'd be tempted to believe you except for this little guy right here." Abbey reached between them and curled her hand gently around his swollen penis. "He'll always give you away."

"Hey, you can't touch him like that and then not follow through."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Jed framed her face in his hands, leaning forward to kiss her. And if they had more time, Abbey probably would have responded exactly the way he wanted her to, but just as his mouth made contact with hers, they heard Liz and Ellie bickering so loud that the echo threatened to wake the entire house. Jed was forced to move so Abbey could crawl out of bed and traipse down the hall to Liz's room.

"But you said I can borrow it sometimes," Ellie whined as she stared at the red purse Liz had just snatched out of her hands.

"This isn't one of those times! I told you, I don't want to bring it to Stockholm with me. I want it to be brand new when we go back to school."

"But I need a purse!"

"Then bring your own!"

"Your Aunt Kellie and Uncle Jack are still asleep so can we try to keep it down?" Both girls turned towards their mother's voice. "Ellie, why can't you use your own purse?"

"I like Lizzie's more. I wanna take it to Sweden, but she says I can't."

"Well, that's up to Lizzie. If she says no, then you'll have to bring yours. Now go get your suitcase out of your room so I can take it downstairs."

"It's not ready yet."

"Of course it is. I packed it last night." Ellie lowered her head, ashamed to confess she had unpacked her bags after Abbey had gone to bed. "Ellie?" Abbey scanned the room when Liz hurried to block her own luggage. "What in the world have you girls done?"

"We didn't like the way you packed our stuff," Liz boldly informed her mother. "You left out a bunch of things, like the diffuser for my blowdryer and my purple sweater and my hairspray and also my journal."

"Elizabeth, you were sitting right here with me when I packed your suitcase. You should have added those things."

"I forgot until later."

"I forgot too," Ellie added.

"Is your mess as bad as hers?" Abbey asked her middle daughter, her head tilting to reference the mound of clothes that surrounded Liz's bag.

"It's worse. I took everything out because I was looking for my soccer medal, but I think you forgot to pack it. I wanna take it with me!"

"Yeah and I wanna take my silver hoop earrings, but I already have so much jewelry that I have to take my jewelry box."

"I wanna take my jewelry box too then!"

"You don't have that much jewelry, Ellie. You don't need it."

"Uh huh!"

Abbey silently counted to ten before she bothered to respond. "I've been harping on you both for days to get your things together so we could pack for Sweden. Since you didn't, I had to stay up late last night to do it myself. So guess what. Everything I packed is going with us to Sweden and everything else is staying here."

"But..." Liz started.

"But nothing. If you wanted your silver earrings and your diffuser, you should have brought them to me. We don't have time to do this today. Now zip up your bag. Ellie, the same goes for you. Go to your room and get your suitcase ready. I'll meet you both in the hall in ten minutes to take the bags downstairs."

Abbey spun around and left her daughters, unaware that the adventures of the day were just beginning. She made her way to Zoey's room where, among the two dozen toys spread out on the floor, she found the three-year-old clutching the arms of the brand new shiny red tricycle Jed had given to her at her birthday party the day before.

"Zoey, I told you the tricycle stays outside. How did you get it up here?"

"Ellie."

"Ellie brought it up?" Zoey nodded. "Why?"

"Because I wanna take it and you forgot it."

"I did not forget it. We're not taking it with us."

"Why?"

"We went over this last night. We're not doing it again. Now where's your suitcase?" Zoey pointed to the pink Barbie backpack sitting on her bed. Her real clothes would travel with her parents, but in order for Zoey to feel as grown up as her sisters, Abbey helped her pack her own bag.

"I'm not finished! I wanna take more toys!"

"We're not going to take any more toys. We already packed enough."

"Uh uh! I want ALL my toys!"

"That's too bad because there's no more room." Abbey walked over to the white chest in the corner of the room. "Let's get you dressed so we can go down and have breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa are going to be expecting us soon." She pulled out a blue sweater and held it out for her daughter. "Do you want to wear this?"

Pouting, Zoey threw her backpack across the room, jumped on her bed, and kicked her little feet. "NO! I wanna take my toys!"

"That's enough! You're either going to change your attitude right this minute or you're going to eat your breakfast in time-out. What's it going to be?"

Surprised that Abbey kneeled to the ground to face her squarely in the eye, Zoey backed down and softened her plea. "But I want them."

"I'm sorry, you can't have them. We don't have the room. So how about we get you dressed?"

Zoey weighed her options and reluctantly stood so Abbey could get her ready as Jed approached the duo after hearing the tantrum down the hall. Once dressed, the bubbling toddler picked up her backpack and threw it over her shoulder, forgetting all about the tricycle and the toys strewn across the floor. The piece of leftover birthday cake Jed promised her probably had more to do with it than anything else, but an exhausted Abbey didn't fight him.

If he wanted to offer her cake after breakfast, she told him, then it would be up to him to tire her out when it was time to prepare for an international flight with a grumpy three-year-old on a sugar high. But tiring her out couldn't be that hard, Jed thought. And so, without reservation, he agreed.

After granting several press interviews at the airport, Jed chased Zoey around for a solid hour before they boarded the plane and, just as he suspected it would, the exercise squelched her energy. What he hadn't predicted was that the layover in Amsterdam would recharge her batteries just as quickly.

When she bounced out of her chair at the gate, he put her back where she belonged. When she ran up the aisle of the plane, he reigned her in. And when she insisted on standing in her seat mid-flight on the way to Stockholm so she could talk to her grandparents sitting behind them, Jed pulled her down and strapped her in, provoking a flood of tears that dried only after she cried herself to sleep.

Liz and Ellie, who had seemingly worked out their problems during a tour of the Amsterdam airport, were taking a break from playing Hangman and travel-sized Connect Four because Ellie had sniped at Liz about that abandoned red purse less than an hour after take-off. They were both reading now, ignoring each other except for the dirty looks they exchanged every once in a while.

And Jed, who was still fantasizing about what it would be like to push Abbey into the lavatory and have his way with her in a crowded airplane flying high over the Atlantic, was getting more and more frustrated that all she could do was scold him for forgetting that damn diaper bag.

"All I'm saying is when I ask you to do something, if you're not going to do it, I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me so I can do it myself instead of arbitrarily deciding we don't need it."

"I didn't know it was this big a deal."

"It's the principal of it, Jed. I've been trying to get everything packed for days with no help from you and the girls."

"That is so far from the truth, Abbey. Since we got back from Washington, we've been too busy planning for Thanksgiving and for Zoey's birthday to do anything else. You didn't start the actual process of packing until yesterday and may I remind you, I stayed up to help you last night."

"All you did was sit there and keep me company."

"That's something. And I would have done more if you had let me, but you had to do it all. You always have to control what everyone packs. You never trust anyone else do it."

"Gee, I wonder why. I tried to let you do something today. I asked you to bring the diaper bag, but you chose not to do that."

He couldn't help but snap back at her. "I didn't bring it, all right? You're right. You're always right. Even when the rest of the world disagrees, you will always be right, Abbey. Okay? Are you going to bite my head off for the rest of the trip?"

"Yes," she answered flatly. "Jackass."

The romance of flight was definitely overrated.

TBC 


	25. Chapter 25

Rating: NC-17

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 25

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: On the flight to Sweden, Liz and Ellie argued about a purse Ellie wanted to borrow, Zoey had a three-year-old tantrum, and Abbey lectured Jed about intentionally leaving behind a bag she asked him to bring

Summary: Things settle down as the Bartlets land in Stockholm; Jed and Abbey have a little fun to kick off their Swedish vacation

Author's Note: Special thanks to Daphy, Ava, Skye, and Amanda for offering suggestions/research for portions of the trip to Sweden

By the time they landed in Stockholm, Abbey had managed to let go of her anger towards her husband. She knew that Jed didn't refuse to bring Zoey's diaper bag just to annoy her, but that wasn't enough to keep her from being frustrated. Still, this was going to be Jed's moment of glory and the last thing she wanted was to start the week in a bubble of hostility.

The plane pulled into the gate amid a crowd of reporters restrained behind a glass wall with cameras flashing in anticipation of getting a glimpse of Dr. Josiah Bartlet.

"Look at that." Jed couldn't believe the way they tried to charge towards the jetway when he took one step out of the cabin.

"And we thought the press back home was a hassle," Abbey replied.

It had taken them a few days to get used to the phone interviews and impromptu meetings arranged by news producers who had set up camp just outside the perimeter of their property for weeks following the release of the names of the Nobel laureates.

Eventually though, they came to accept the publicity and worked to form a bond of trust between themselves and the journalists. Some mornings, Jed even crossed the drive up the gravel road to the join them, sharing coffee and donuts while he answered their questions with few restrictions. The only topic that was off-limits, he told them, were his daughters. And to avoid alienating such a receptive interviewee, they all agreed.

But the media back home had specific parameters for these types of stories. Jed and Abbey knew what to expect because as they quickly learned, while there were a handful of sensationalistic newshounds in the bunch, often, the people who covered the laureates were specialized reporters, well-versed in literature, science, or business, sent to tell the story of the men and women behind the coveted prize.

In Sweden, the rules were different. Every journalist in the country had a unique angle on the events of Nobel Week. From broadcast news footage of the arrival of the prize-winners to newspaper articles and commentary about the behind-the-scenes antics of the participants in the world's most prestigious awards ceremony, everything was fair game.

Jed was warned by the Nobel Foundation that the week would be a combination of Nobel lectures and press events, but he was still stunned by the size of the crowd of media waiting at the airport gate. "I knew I should have worn a tie."

Abbey, who had handed a sleeping Zoey to her father so she could help Jed prepare for the onslaught of pictures, combed his bangs off his face. "You wouldn't look any more handsome than you do right now."

He was wearing charcoal gray slacks and a blue and white pinstriped button-down sports shirt. Abbey brushed a stray piece of lint off his shoulder and straightened his collar as Jed took a deep breath.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah." He took her hand and gave her a quick kiss.

"You look great."

They walked together, Jed waving as they made their appearance before anyone else in their party. Liz followed immediately afterwards and Ellie, shying away from the fanfare, held on tight to her grandmother's hand and smiled apprehensively. James carried Zoey, now groggy after their entrance into the gate sparked a firestorm of chatter that woke her from a peaceful slumber. Behind them, Jack, Kellie, and Brad greeted a dozen photographers who were no longer in Jed's line of sight.

The family was ushered through a growing mob by Swedish dignitaries and security. They were led into an isolated room where they were introduced to Felix, their private chauffeur and Alexander, a personal attache who would be tending to their every need during their stay.

"I feel a little weird about this," Jed whispered to Abbey when they were alone.

"About what?"

"I'm not used to having someone answer to me day and night. It feels kind of strange."

"Get used to it, Hon. I have a feeling this is just the start of things to come. That's what happens when you show the world you're a genius."

She might have been exaggerating a little, but not by much. Jed had already begun accepting appearances that would keep him busy through the New Year and he was told this was just the tip of the iceberg. As a Nobel laureate, he would have his pick of jobs, speaking engagements, and overzealous publishing contracts for his printed work.

This truly was the event that would alter their lives forever and while Abbey embraced it with all the love in her heart, Jed was still coming to grips with the changes.

In addition to a driver and an attache at his disposal, Jed was flanked by two security guards when the Bartlets were escorted out of the airport and driven in a black stretch limousine to their destination for the night - the five-star Grand Hotel on the waterfront in downtown Stockholm, the official host of the Nobel laureates.

"Daddy, look at all the boats!" Ellie shouted as they pulled up to the lobby entrance in a way that gave her a clear view of the quay.

"I see them, Sweetheart. Maybe we can go for a ride some night."

Jed had done his research. He knew all about the romantic cruises that set sail to explore the passageways under the bridges of Stockholm and he had already reserved seats for two separate journeys - one for the entire family on one night and one for just him and Abbey on another.

He glanced over at his wife and smiled as she tied the end of Elizabeth's braid with a small rubber band.

"Ooohh, a gourmet chocolate store right across the street!" Liz exclaimed when Abbey finished. "Can we go check it out?"

"I don't see why not," Jed replied. "Let us check in and get settled first and then we'll take a walk over there."

"And I'd LOVE to see the Royal Palace! The brochure says it's on the other side of the harbor."

"Lizzie, we can't do everything tonight."

"Besides, you might be able to see the Palace from our room," Abbey added.

"Really?"

"Maybe."

Just as she hoped, the view from their window gave them a picturesque glimpse across the lighted ferries docked in the harbor to the Royal Palace nestled on the other side of the moonlit water. This was the public residence of King Carl XVI Gustaf and when Abbey pulled back the curtain and stared at the majestic columns of the brick and sandstone building where she and Jed would be dining with the King and Queen on their last day in Stockholm, the pageantry of it all overwhelmed her.  
She looked over at Jed. "I can't believe we're actually here."

"We are," he assured her. "We really are."

He had lofty ambitions when they married and after he graduated from the London School of Economics, Abbey knew that Jed was on his way to doing great things, but being here - in Sweden - among the world's brightest scholars filled her with such a sense of pride. He had made it. Far beyond her expectations, he had surpassed every goal he had sketched in his mind.

She approached him, her eyes adoringly dancing over his features. "There's nothing on the agenda for tonight, right?"

"No, why?"

"I just want to enjoy you."

Nothing could get his adrenaline running more than those simple words. He wrapped an arm around her waist and she rested her hand on his as they moved away from the window. Tomorrow, the official festivities would begin. But tonight belonged to them.

After the chocolate run, Brad and the girls toured the hotel with Abbey's parents and later went for a quick evening swim before camping out in James and Mary's suite.

Meanwhile, Jed, Abbey, Jack, and Kellie snuck out onto the tenth-floor terrace for a dip in the steamy hot tub sheltered in a secluded corner overlooking the courtyard. Stone railings stretched out along the terrace at waist level, hiding the tub itself from prying eyes below while giving its occupants a view of the breathtaking skyline.

The cold December air invigorated their faces as their bodies were fully drenched in the enveloping whirlpool around them. The couples drank champagne and talked up a storm about the events of the next several days.

"So there's the press conference tomorrow, along with the reception..." Abbey started.

"And Jed's got lectures every day?" Kellie read along as Abbey flipped the pages of the itinerary.

"It looks that way."

"He's got three lectures on Thursday."

Abbey looked up to address Jed. "Did you bring all your speeches?"

"The ones that were finished, yes. The others, I brought just the outlines. Leo and Jenny will be here in a couple of days. He can help me work on them."

"You're sure you have everything you need?"

"Yes." He hadn't yet realized he forgot his soft briefcase, the one that housed a binder full of notes for the dozen economic lectures he was expected to give.

"Okay." And Abbey wasn't about to remind him - not now anyway. Eventually, she would tell him she packed the briefcase, along with the scraps of paper he had left on the kitchen table, but first, she was looking forward to a good-natured tweaking session, especially since the fact that he had intentionally left behind Zoey's diaper bag was still on her mind.

Dismissing the subject without a second thought, Jed quizzed her. "Did you bring the black dress?"

"Of course, though I'll probably wear something a bit newer to the cocktail party."

"That's fine as long as you brought it." His devilish grin gave away his innermost thoughts as his mind wandered back to the first time she wore that dress - the banquet at the Swedish Embassy in Washington. He remembered how much that sexy dress had turned him on during the evening and how much fun he had taking her out of it later.

Kellie caught the way the loving couple exchanged sultry expressions over the cloud of steam that rose between them. Jed's toe deliberately trailed up Abbey's leg, provoking a few brow-raising giggles. They couldn't hide their flirtatious nature from anyone, not even Kellie and Jack.

"Well, it's getting pretty late." Kellie nudged her husband. "We should get ready for bed."

His eyes glued to Abbey, Jed pushed himself up against the three laser jets lined up one on top of another and replied, "I think I'll stay here a while. I'm enjoying the water beating against my back."

Jack took Kellie's hint and stood to help her out of the tub. "Okay then. We'll see you in the morning"  
Jed ignored their departure as he inched himself closer to his wife, mesmerized when Abbey lifted herself out of the tub. He knew the way she did it was no accident. Step by step, she wiggled her hips, deliberately enticing him by giving him a peek at her water-soaked bikini outlining the most intimate parts of her anatomy.

"How is your back anyway?" she asked nonchalantly while sliding back in her seat underwater.

"Much better today," he said as he took the champagne goblet out of her hands and grabbed a box of imported chocolate-dipped strawberries they had left on the deck.

She closed the space between them then, just as he knew she would. With one arm, he helped her settle on his lap and slipped a strawberry into her mouth.

Abbey closed her eyes. "Mmm. I love these."

"That's why I bought them." Jed leaned in for a kiss, one that unleashed the sinful tendencies he had been fighting all day. "And I love this...your hair, every wet and wavy strand," he said with another kiss.

When their lips parted, he surveyed the area. It was quiet and dark. None of the pesky photographers that hounded them at the airport and the hotel lobby were milling around and since it was a restricted area, he felt safe in assuming they were long gone by now.

The only sound he could hear was the three dozen hot tub jets and the only light he could see was the one illuminating dimly from underwater. He could see her legs, her thighs, and her hips. He could see the lines of her gorgeous body confined by the material of her cinnamon red bikini as it caught the glow of the lamp. She might as well be nude, he thought as she straddled him so tight that he felt every muscle in his body constrict.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine."

He held her closer, reveling in the feel of her skin as she wiggled near to press herself against him. His fingers got lost in her wet spirals until his thumb brushed past the exposed skin of her neck, spotted with goosebumps that disappeared with the warmth of his caress. His mouth worked her shoulders and her tender earlobe, cold from the breeze now heated by his touch.

Abbey could feel him struggle for comfort beneath her and as she curled her hand to stroke his penis, she realized just how ready he was to make love to her. "Looks like you're way ahead of me."

"We can fix that." Jed cupped the back of her neck, pulling her towards him so his mouth could devour hers.

His fingers played at her chest, then circled the silky fabric of her top. He loved this bikini. It felt as soft as butter. The thin hems bore every curve in her figure like a form-fitting satin bra and panty set, he remarked earlier when she discarded the robe she wore downstairs.

He balled his hands into fists and kneaded her delicate mounds with his knuckles. She arched her back and moaned. Just what he assumed would happen, especially in this environment. After all, this wasn't foreign territory.

They had experimented in their own hot tub at the farm, but the night Jed learned that his wife would gladly relinquish her inhibitions while soaking in a steamy whirlpool on a cold winter night was when they made love in the Idaho hot springs during a trip to Yellowstone.

The way she squirmed in his arms that evening and cried out in a melody of pain and pleasure was forever etched in his mind and just the thought of doing that to her again was enough to nearly send him over the edge.

Aroused by that memory, his fingers instinctively reached behind her to unclasp her top and release her voluptuous breasts into his waiting mouth. First, he kissed away the drops of moisture that were left behind on both, then he sucked on one and then the other, alternating back and forth while Abbey's sexy moans interrupted her progress as she tried to tug on his waistband to rid him of his swim trunks.

His tongue still lapping at her chest, he lowered his hands to her hips and when she stepped on the tips of her toes, he yanked her bikini right off her body.

Her eyes, the color of jade, told her most erotic desires. She rose to her feet, still straddling him between her legs while she held his stare long enough to see him close his baby blues at the first stroke of his shaft. She applied a little more pressure and a bead of moisture escaped at the tip.

"This is gonna be over before it even starts."

"It's already started, Babe."

With a wicked grin, Abbey lowered herself back down, her hand squeezing him as she guided him inside her, inch by inch. Slowly. The light below them was eye-catching, the way it flickered on their bodies ever so slightly in perfect harmony with the waves swirling around them.

Jed looked down to see part of his shaft creep out of her body, illuminated for barely a second before he was swallowed into the depths of her feminine walls once again. He inhaled sharply, his movements now paralyzed by the craving that had invaded every nerve and all he could do was sit still and allow her free reign.

That's how she wanted it. At least at first.

Rocking back and forth over his swollen member was driving him rapidly towards the brink of ecstasy, but instead of enjoying the ride, he summoned every ounce of self-control to temper his lust so that she could join him.

"Abbey..."

"I'm not there yet."

"We have to hurry you along." Still buried inside her, Jed held her at her rear, pushed off the back of the tub, and took a step forward.

"Jed, your back!" Abbey replied, but her warning fell on deaf ears as Jed switched places with her, sitting her down on the seat so that her head rested on the rim and her rear was precariously balanced at the edge, close to slipping off if not for the way he moved her ankles behind him so she could cross them and rely on him to keep her afloat.

His fingers tumbled down her belly into the curls that hid that sensuous layer of skin he was desperate to touch. He probed her there with his thumb, rubbing her just above their joined bodies.

"Oh God. Don't ever stop."

But he did. He removed his thumb and pulled out of her. "Trust me."

He took her hands off his shoulders and turned her around so her knees were on the seat and her back was to him. Positioned in the direct stream of the water rushing out of the jets, Abbey gasped as the nozzle vibrated at the top of her thighs.

Behind her, Jed leaned forward to place gentle kisses along her shoulder blade, then he tucked one hand underneath her, fondling her sensitive flesh to separate her folds and expose her tender nub to the scrutiny of the lower jet while his other hand massaged her between her legs, turning and twisting until they were at the perfect angle for penetration.

His knee pushed on her rear to keep her captive against the pressurized nozzle as she began to tighten around the fingers that moved inside her.

She was panting. "Jed?"

"Hmm?"

"Now! Right now!"

He withdrew his fingers and lifted her slightly, enough to bend her over the side of the tub for better access to her front entrance, but not enough to get her away from the middle jet that was the strongest of the three. The top of her body was out in the cold, but her lower half was gyrating against his, her back to his front as her feet kicked at the water.

He separated her legs and slid himself inside of her, slowing down when he felt her stretch to accept him. Abbey pushed back for deeper penetration and Jed gave them both a second to enjoy the physical bond between them before he pumped in and out of her with such vigor that water started splashing out of the tub and raining down on her back. All three jets were running at full force and every time he pounded himself into her, she was shoved against them for a split second of unadulterated, pulsating stimulation.

She buried her face in a towel left on the deck and held on to the rim tightly, so tight that her nails cracked when Jed changed from long, powerful thrusts to shorter, faster ones that pinned her to the jets and rendered her a helpless victim of the nozzles that assaulted every sensitive inch of flesh between her legs.

Unable to escape the shattering sensations, she clenched around him as she hit a violent climax, forcing all the air out of his lungs as he thrust into her over and over again until she could barely breathe waiting for him to explode inside her.

When it was over, Abbey turned her head to the side, her cheek resting on her hand. Jed slipped out of her and pulled her back into the water to sit on his lap.

"You feel so good."

"That was amazing, Jed."

He protectively enveloped her with his arms and kissed the top of her head. "Tell me about it. Watching you move like that...God, Abbey, I don't know how I held on as long as I did."

"We need jets like that for our hot tub."

"As soon as we get back to New Hampshire, I'll install them myself."

She laughed at his enthusiasm. Leaning her head back against his chest and listening to his racing heartbeat as he struggled to catch his breath, her eyes wandered up to the magnificent navy sky lit by the sparkling lights of the city. "So this is Sweden."

He followed her lead. "Traditionally, you know what the Swedes enjoy more than a Swedish hot tub?"

"What's that?"

"The Swedish sauna right next door." Abbey lifted his hand to her mouth and pressed her lips to his knuckles as she pushed herself back against him. "Or...we could just stay here a little longer."

"Good idea." She chuckled.

TBC 


	26. Chapter 26

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 26

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: The Bartlets arrived in Stockholm; Jed and Abbey had a little fun in the restricted outdoor hot tub

Summary: When Jed is rattled after a run-in with Yosh Takahashi, Abbey tries to calm him down; Liz catches the eye of a Swedish teen; the family enjoys an evening cruise under the bridges of Stockholm

* * *

Jed rushed through the room and with one last flip of his jacket, he hustled out into the hall where he checked his pockets for the key before closing the door. When he turned, he came face-to-face with his former grad school rival, a person he hadn't seen in years. A person he despised. There he was in the flesh, the man Jed had been dreading.

Standing stoically in a conservative black suit, a white dress shirt, and red tie, Yosh Takahashi nodded. "Jed Bartlet. If I didn't know you'd be here, I wouldn't have even recognized you."

"Yosh." Jed took the hand that Yosh offered, giving him a half-hearted shake. "It's been a while."

"Yes, it has." Both men fidgeted speechlessly until Yosh noticed that Jed was still clutching the knob behind him. "That's your room?"

"Yeah."

He pointed several doors down. "Mine's over there."

"Nice." Jed gave him a polite smile.

When another awkward moment passed, Yosh took advantage of the tension. "I read your articles...the ones that caught the attention of the prize committee."

Modestly, Jed dismissed his research. "Oh, they were nothing special."

"No, they weren't," Yosh returned, silently noting that his response wiped the smile off Jed's face.

"Well, fortunately, the prize committee disagreed with both of us."

"Advocating policies to help underdeveloped nations attain political freedom, in theory, sounds respectable. But what you're really talking about is giving government handouts to members of society who have lost the incentive to contribute to their own country."

And just like that, Yosh wandered down a dangerous trail that reminded them both of their last year of grad school. Jed stuffed his hands in his pocket and pondered his response for a moment.

"That depends on how you measure a person's contribution," he eventually said. "And it's not about incentive here. Some people simply don't have the means to overcome obstacles."

"Then they should learn."

"And they will. My research was about ensuring programs to help them do that. In some of these countries, vulnerable citizens are falling through the cracks of bureaucracy. Government public works programs create jobs that will stimulate the economy and..."

"...and create a welfare state among its residents, spoonfeeding them every step of the way."

"There are those of us who can see the practicalities of these types of ventures..." Once again, Jed was interrupted. This time, by Abbey. She came barreling down the hall towards her husband, her voice preceding her turn around the corner.

"Jed, we're going to be late!" She softened her tone as she neared the duo. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were talking."

"It's okay. Yosh, you remember my wife Abbey?"

"Of course. A man never forgets a woman as lovely as Mrs. Bartlet." Yosh bowed his head and shook her hand.

"It's Doctor Bartlet now," Jed corrected. "She's an M.D."

"Oh really? General practitioner?"

"Surgery actually," Abbey answered. "Thoracic surgery."

"Ah, the breadwinner in the family. I always knew Jed was smart to marry up."

Abbey felt Jed's muscles tighten around her. He was standing a step behind her and one arm was draped over her shoulder while his other hand gripped her right hip. He squeezed her there, a gentle, yet frustrated squeeze. He was obviously agitated.

Though she wanted to give him an opportunity to set Yosh straight, what she wanted more was for Jed to be cool and relaxed at his press conference. So it was up to her to intervene.

"I don't know about that," she said as she lifted Jed's hand from her hip to press her lips to his knuckles. "I think I got the better deal." She turned to face her husband. "Now Jed, everyone's waiting downstairs and we really are going to be late. What do you say we continue this later?"

Her expressive eyes subtly shining, she slipped her hand into his to lead him away from his nemesis. Jed walked quietly, but Abbey could hear a bitter rumble of names and curse words escaping his lungs with every shallow breath.

Finally, when the elevator doors closed, he sighed. "Eleven years and he hasn't changed at all. He's still the same egotistical ass he's always been."

"Sounds like it's a good thing I showed up when I did."

"He says my research of the programs that would help struggling nations was nothing more than a way to conceal giving government handouts to bums roaming the streets."

"He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Oh, he knows what he's talking about. That's the scariest part of all. He knows his facts. He's just smart enough to spin them in a way that makes it look like something other than what it is."

"And you're smart enough to spin it back."

"It's his way of promoting a conservative agenda that would make even the most faithful Republican cringe."

"He's close-minded."

"He's a fascist tumor on the face of economic policy, that's what he is." Reacting to the fire that burned through his glare, Abbey pulled the elevator button, jerking them both to a screeching halt. "You stopped the elevator."

"Yeah." She stood in front of the button, her arms folded over her chest as if guarding it with her petite frame.

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't even hesitate to get a little frisky, but taking into consideration the fact that we are late, I have to ask, what did you do that for?" Jed tried to wiggle his fingers around her, but she denied him access. "Abbey, seriously."

"We're not going anywhere until you get it all out of your system."

"What?"

"Your vile distaste for that man."

"My vile distaste? Excuse me, when did you change sides?" She arched her brow and he immediately surrendered. "Fine."

"I mean it, Jed. I'm not going to stand by and watch while you let Yosh Takahashi destroy this moment."

"I'm not letting him destroy anything."

"Yes, you are. And it's going to stop right now. You're a brilliant economist, one who spent years working on a theory that will one day benefit those living in deplorable conditions. Now, you are about to embark on a week of receptions and cocktail parties and lectures and press conferences and award ceremonies and banquets all in your honor. There is no way in hell I'm going to allow you to allow him to spoil one second of this. Not in this lifetime."

"Abbey..."

"So you stand there and you vent all you want. You call him names. Punch the wall and tell him off in four different languages. But we are not leaving this elevator until you get it out of your system and you're able to walk into that press conference with your head held high, proud of what you've accomplished and grateful for the recognition you so richly deserve."

Under other circumstances, Jed may have been a little miffed that she was essentially holding him hostage to a barrage of emotions he had securely tucked away. But it took him mere seconds to realize that Abbey was right. He could let go in an enclosed box with only his wife a witness to the animosity Yosh provoked in their exchange, or he could continue to let it eat away at him as he approached a couple dozen story-hungry journalists with an air of resentment, an attitude he knew would quickly betray the gracious words he had prepared and, by extension, unmask his insecurities.

He took a deep breath and asked, "What do you want to hear?"

"Tell me what he said before I showed up."

"He said he read my work, then he went on to tell me what was wrong with it, the sanctimonious son of a bitch." He paced the elevator angrily.

"And what did he say was wrong with it?"

"I told you. He said I was advocating nothing more than government handouts. Never mind these kinds of government handouts are precisely how FDR saved the Tennessee Valley."

"Did you tell him of that?"

"I don't need to tell him. He knows that! Don't underestimate the shrewd mind of a bigot, Abbey. That's what he is...a socioeconomic bigot! Welfare state...as if he could ever carry on a conversation without that phrase. Everything's about privatization because God forbid the government have a hand in helping its people become productive citizens." He kicked the steel doors with force.

"He really hasn't changed, has he?"

"I guess I had forgotten that a man who considers himself to be so smart could be such a preachy, smug, self-righteous buffoon! He'll get his eventually. I can't wait until the reporters tear him to shreds and believe me, Abbey, they will. You know why? Because even he can't possibly believe what he's saying. I'll have the last laugh. I just have to wait for it."

When he paused and relaxed against the metal railing behind him, Abbey soothingly rubbed his arm. "In the meantime, are you going to be okay?"

"I think so."

"Enough to put him out of your mind until later...when we're alone?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." She pushed the button to send them on their way down to the lobby. "Jed?"

"Yeah?"

"Before we get there, I just want to say go out there and knock 'em dead. You know how to do that?"

"How?"

"Remember why you did what you did. Your research had nothing to do with preaching to an international audience. It wasn't about battling the theories of other economists or hoping that someone would notice. Your work was a result of your compassion." She laid her hand flat over his heart. "This was your motivation and today, this is what's going to set you apart from Yosh Takahashi. Speak from your heart, Jed. Don't tell them why privatization won't work. Let them come to that conclusion on their own. Instead, tell them about the faces behind the research. Use your extraordinary storytelling skills to draw them a mental picture. Tell them about the people who live in these countries and how they could benefit from government programs. Tell them that and they'll know instantly why the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided your work was worthy of the most prestigious award in the world."

Jed coiled his arm around her waist and said softly, "I will."

And so he did. With his entire family sitting in the front row behind a crowd of television cameras, print photographers, and reporters, he gave a myriad of eloquent responses. He allowed his emotions to carry him. His words, devoid of academic lingo and rehearsed soundbytes, flowed from one thought to the next, propelling him to the front of the line of laureates all waiting for their turn under the lights.

He controlled the questions. He controlled the interviews. From Yosh's vantage point, Jed was in control of everything. And in the middle of it all, he followed Jed's gaze as it rose over the cameras towards Abbey. Husband and wife exchanged a smile beaming with an equal mix of pride and gratitude.

* * *

Later, while Jed and the other laureates were whisked away to deliver lectures, Abbey took the girls skating at the ice rink in Kungsträdgården Park. It wasn't even 3 p.m. yet and the sun was already beginning to set, tossing a breathtaking glow over the streaming water that stretched all the way out to the Baltic Sea.

Street lamps lit the ice rink and giant speakers grounded throughout the surrounding embankments echoed with the sounds of Scandinavian music.

As Ellie glided over the ice with ease, Zoey looked on in awe of her big sister's grace. Abbey held the wobbly toddler's hands and pulled her along the slippery surface, but soon she opted for independence, guided by the false belief that she, too, could skate on her own. Unfortunately, she could barely stand in her skates, let alone move in them.

Abbey reluctantly released her grip, her arms still extended to catch her daughter when she inevitably fell. Zoey was at a standstill and when she took one small step forward, she immediately lost her balance and tumbled into Abbey's embrace.

"And that's why you don't get to skate alone."

"Ellie did it!" the three-year-old whined.

"Ellie's a lot older than you are, Sweetheart. She's had a lot more practice skating on the pond back home."

"I can skate on the pond too."

"Yes, you can. And I'll tell you what, when it's cold enough this winter, I'll take you out there and teach you how to skate all by yourself, but just for now, I'm going to hold your hands so you won't fall, okay?"

"Okay." Zoey nodded as she offered Abbey her little mitten-clad hands.

Meanwhile, Lizzie, who initially wanted to take a stroll towards the chic European shops down the street, settled for the afternoon excursion when she realized just how many Swedish teens had gathered at the rink.

She twirled in the center of the ice, seemingly oblivious to the prying eyes of the tall blonde teenage boy who was mesmerized by the way she looked. Like an authentic ice princess, he thought. She was dressed in white slacks and an ivory angora sweater. A snow white cashmere scarf flowed from around her neck and a matching white beret covered only the top of her long chestnut hair.

He assumed she hadn't noticed him spying, but Liz was smarter than that. She had seen him during one of her turns and though she hadn't acknowledged him, she knew he was watching. She stayed in her spot, practicing her moves until he approached.

"Du er pen fint!"

"Um..." If only she had brought along that Swedish-English dictionary Jed had given her.

"I said you're pretty good." He translated his statement with a noticeable accent.

"Oh. Thanks!"

"Are you American?"

"Yes. I'm Elizabeth." Liz extended her arm.

"Sven." He covered her cold fingers with his gloved hand in an effort to warm her up.

The teenagers began to skate off together, crossing the rink to a corner opposite Abbey. It was a calculated move on her part. If she was going to enjoy a conversation with the handsome stranger, she didn't want her mother or sisters intruding.

But even from across the ice, an excited Ellie spotted the pair and rushed to inform Abbey. "Lizzie met a really cute boy!"

"She did?"

"Uh huh! Look! Over there!" She didn't mean any harm. Nothing ever made her happier than when Lizzie had a boyfriend, but like most little girls, Ellie reveled in the joy of snooping on her sister. "Want me to go hang out with them?"

"I don't think so," Abbey replied, much to her disappointment.

"How come? Daddy always wants me to hang out with them when Lizzie's with a boy. He says it's how he makes sure there's no touching."

"Well, unlike your father, I don't believe that teenage boys are nothing more than a quivering mass testosterone. We're in a crowded ice rink and Lizzie knows we're only a few feet away, so with that in mind, I think we should respect her privacy from a distance."

"We should?"

"Yes, we should." Abbey tugged Ellie's arm to pull her towards the railing. "It doesn't mean we can't just sit here and watch though."

She held her youngest daughters back and together, the threesome observed Liz and Sven laughing and talking and, after a while, skating in small circles around one another as they exchanged jokes and anecdotes about their young lives.

* * *

By dinnertime that evening, Liz had sworn her sisters to secrecy. She knew Abbey would tell Jed all about the afternoon with Sven, but the last thing she needed was Zoey and Ellie teasing her in front of the rest of the family.

After dinner at a posh Scandinavian restaurant on the banks of Lake Mälaren, Jed and Abbey, Jack and Kellie, James and Mary, and all the kids boarded the large yacht that would take them on a tour of the archipelagos in the Baltic Sea. They passed through two locks while cruising under fifteen of Stockholm's most beautiful bridges.

"You see all those pieces of land out there, Zo? Those islands are all the part of the city of Stockholm." Jed held Zoey up so she could see the glittering lights out the window.

"Can we visit them, Daddy?" Ellie asked.

"Some of them, sure."

"Hey, Ellie, come here." Abbey directed her middle daughter towards the window behind Zoey and Jed. "Look across the water to those buildings over there."

"Yeah?"

"That's Djurgården Island. Once your Aunt Kate arrives with Millie and Leo and Jenny, your grandparents and I are going to take all you kids to see it."

"What is it?"

"It's a park full of characters created by Scandanavian authors."

Ellie thought about it for a moment. While the idea sounded intriguing, she needed more information to get her mind racing. "What characters?"

"Pippi Longstockings for one."

"REALLY?!" That did it. Always the bookworm, Ellie couldn't imagine a better activity.

"Really," Abbey confirmed. "And tomorrow, Lizzie and I are going to take a little trip to that island over there." She pulled Ellie out of Liz's way so the older girl could see the string of boutiques on the waterfront.

"You're gonna take me shopping?"

"You want a designer theater dress, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think..."

"I'm told that's where we can find one."

Jed stared at his wife, grinning from ear to ear. He stood and ducked behind her, coiling his arm around her waist as he whispered into her ear. "You never cease to amaze me."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't surprise me that you planned out the schedule for the week. What always gets me is how good you are at taking control."

"Isn't that one of the things you don't like?" She quizzed him suspiciously.

"No." Shocked by the allegation, he furrowed his brows.

"Because I could swear when we were on the plane yesterday, you said I always have to control what everyone packs. You didn't seem nearly as smitten with the whole thing then."

"Then I was an idiot. From this morning's pep talk in the elevator to the way you tailored this vacation to what everyone wants...I'm totally smitten with the way you take control." He stole a quick kiss. "Just so you know, though, whatever you have planned for Friday, you're going to have to change."

"What happened to liking it when I'm in control?"

"For most things. Not for this."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

He toyed with the idea of telling her, but watching her curiosity pique with interest was more enjoyable. "You'll find out on Friday."

"I want to know now," she said firmly.

"You know what else I love about you?" Jed enveloped her in a tight embrace. "The fact that I know that deep inside your soul, there is a smidgen of patience lurking about. I'm confident that sliver of restraint is what you'll draw upon to get you through the next four days."

"You know me so well, Babe." Abbey pressed herself against his frame and reached around to lower her hands to the slope of his rear as she contemplated seducing it out of him later.

Donning a devilish smirk, Jed replied, "This is going to be a fun week."

TBC


	27. Chapter 27

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 27

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed had a run-in with Yosh Takahashi; Liz met a Swedish teen named Sven at the ice skating rink in Kungsträdgården Park; the family went on an evening cruise under the historic bridges of Stockholm; Abbey had a tough time getting Jed and the girls to pack all their belongings (chapter 24)

Summary: Jed suspects Abbey knows more than she's letting on about his missing lecture notes; during an afternoon shopping trip, Liz pleads with her mother to let her get to know Sven better; Abbey tells Jed they should let Sven join them at the theater later in the week; Jed tells Abbey he's ready to take on Yosh

* * *

Abbey opened one eye and blinked against the sheer white curtains illuminated by the glow of sunlight in the suite's master bedroom. She had heard Jed traipsing around, but it wasn't until she lifted herself onto her elbows to see him tiptoeing from one corner to another that she realized what he was doing.

Silently, she smiled. Her goal was simply to watch him, to wait for him to surrender his search and wake her. And as she fell back against her pillow, she let out a laugh so soft, she disregarded the possibility that he had heard her.

But he had.

"Abbey." Jed called her name as he neared the bed. "Abigail."

He was no fool. He knew he hadn't imagined the chuckle he heard behind him. He knew she had to be awake and for some reason he couldn't quite grasp, she was laughing at him. He also knew that Abbey could never sleep unless she was wrapped in the shelter of a blanket, so with little hesitation, he pulled back the covers and grinned as she squirmed underneath.

"Stop," she whined sleepily.

"Who do you think you're kidding? Get up."

"It's early."

"Yes, it is, but you're not asleep. You haven't been for some time, have you?"

"I just woke up a few minutes ago."

"Long enough to spy on me."

"You were just so cute, the way you prowled around on the tips of your toes."

"In an effort not to wake you. I shouldn't have bothered." He was less than amused.

"What's the problem?"

"I can't find my lecture notes."

"I thought you said you packed them."

"I did pack them. I can't find them. I think the airline lost them."

"The airline did not lose them. If you had packed them, they would be here."

"So what are you saying? That I left them at home?"

Abbey shrugged. She wasn't yet ready to tell him she had packed them herself. "Maybe. Guess you'll have to start fresh."

"Do you have any idea how hard I worked on those lectures?"

"Yes, I do. It's a shame you left them behind."

Her voice carried little emotion and her lack of sympathy shocked him for a second. Still, Jed gave her a quizzical look, then dismissed the notion. He couldn't possibly have forgotten something so important, and even if he did, he certainly wouldn't admit to it until he sifted through every piece of luggage in the room.

"Mommy?" Ellie knocked softly on the door.

"What's up, Ellie?" Jed asked as he opened it.

"Mommy said I have to do my English homework this morning, but I forgot my worksheets at home."

"I thought your mother made sure to pack all your assignments."

"She did, but..."

Abbey rolled over to face her daughter. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to remind you that this wouldn't have happened if you had left your suitcase the way I packed it?"

"My teacher's gonna be mad at me." Ellie sadly lowered her head in a remorseful gesture Abbey couldn't ignore.

"No, she's not." She stood up and walked over to the smaller of two tote bags in the corner of the room.

"Do you have my worksheets?" Ellie asked, trailing closely behind.

"Did you really think I wasn't going to follow you around and pack whatever you and your sisters forgot to bring?" Abbey rummaged through the flap to hand Ellie a folder full of her assignments.

The eight-year-old dropped her jaw and excitedly shouted, "Thank you!"

"You're welcome. Now go get started. And when Lizzie wakes up, tell her I want her to work on her history homework before we go anywhere today."

"Okay!" The little girl ran out of the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

After her quick departure, Jed glanced over at Abbey. Suddenly, it all made sense. Her disinterest earlier, her unwillingness to help him search. Instead of scrambling to her feet like he expected, she made herself more comfortable in bed - and now he understood why. It was all part of a ploy she'd maneuvered to teach him a lesson for being just as irresponsible as the girls.

He eyed his wife suspiciously, battling the thoughts in his head. Should he just play along with her little game? Or should he confront her and find a way - any way - to get his notes?

"I'm going to jump in the shower."

"Oh no you don't." He chose the latter. Without warning, Jed barreled into her, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder.

"JED! What are you doing?" She pounded on his back with her fists.

"Where are they?"

"What?"

"You know what! My lecture notes!"

"I don't know."

"Liar!" He slapped her rear then dropped her onto the bed, jumping on top of her and tickling her unmercifully. "Where are they?"

"I don't know," Abbey choked out through a storm of laughter that nearly rendered breathless.

"Tell me or so help me, I'll..."

"You'll what?"

"You don't want to know."

She twisted beneath him, wiggling to try to escape, but he kept her pinned tightly to the mattress until she stopped fighting. "You're so sexy when you're in control."

Entranced by the heat that poured out of her twinkling eyes, he changed his strategy. "Give me the notes and I'll show you just how in control I can be."

An offer she couldn't refuse. "Gray bag, front zipper. They're in a white folder."

"You're evil. My own little hellcat."

"Evil would have been leaving them on the kitchen table, Pumpkin." Jed tried to get up, but Abbey locked her ankles around his hips. "Hey! Not so fast."

He snuggled up to her, his head ducking into the hallow of her neck as she ran her hands up and down his back. Just when his fingers slipped under her top, his movements slowed considerably, disrupted by a ringing phone they both tried to ignore.

"Who the hell would be calling us now?" he whispered while warming her ear with gentle kisses.

"It could be your brother," Abbey suggested. "Or my parents."

Jed reluctantly reached for the receiver. "Hello?" Confused, he looked at Abbey. "Hang on."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Does Lizzie know someone named Sven?"

* * *

"He treats me like a baby!" Liz complained.

"He does not," Abbey replied.

Mother and daughter strolled down the cobbled streets of Västerlångatan, the bustling neighborhood on the island of Gamla Stan where swanky boutiques lined a pedestrian pathway through scores of sidewalk cafés. Even on a cold December afternoon, patrons crowded patio tables, most dressed in the trendiest winter wardrobes Liz had ever seen.

"That's what I want!" The teen subtly pointed to an older woman in a flaming red coat. It was form-fitted to cling to her upper body right down to her waist, where it flared like a dress all the way down to her ankles. Black velvet trimmed the cuffs and the collar.

"You're a little too young for that."

"See what I mean? You do it too. I'm not a little girl."

"I didn't say you were, but you're not an adult either and that coat belongs on an adult."

Liz stopped dead in her tracks, forcing Abbey to stop as well. "It's not just the coat. It's everything! You won't even entertain that style for me because you think I'm too young. Dad won't let me go out with Sven because he thinks I can't handle it. I'm not a child, you know."

"If you want to convince me you're not a child, having a tantrum out here isn't the way to do it." Abbey put her hand on her daughter's shoulder as they darted around a string of chairs to find a seat at one of the tables. "For what it's worth, I would have said no about Sven too."

"But why?" she asked as she sat down across from her mother. "You met him at the ice rink. He was nice. You said so yourself."

"That doesn't mean I'm comfortable letting you run off with him."

"I'm not running off. He just wanted to take me sightseeing." She leaned back against her chair and crossed her arms. "Dad never lets me do anything fun."

"He's a stranger, Lizzie. And you're fourteen years old. As far as I'm concerned, you're not old enough to date yet, let alone spend the entire day in a foreign country with a young man we barely know. So lay off your dad because if he hadn't said no, I would have."

"All right, I'm sorry. It's just that...he's not like a regular kid. He's different. It's like he's older, more mature."

"That's not likely to change my mind."

"Just hear me out, okay?" Liz waited for Abbey to nod before she went on. "It's not just that he lives here. It's that he's led a totally different life. His father is from Belgium. He was Consulate-General in Gothenburg when he met his mother. The family's traveled all over the world and Sven's lived in the coolest places!"

"Lizzie, I'm not saying he isn't interesting."

"I've never met anyone like him before."

"I get that, but sweetheart, you understand we're only going to be here for another week, right? I don't want you getting too attached to this guy."

"I'm not attached. I'm not like one of those girls. He's just fun to talk to. And he knows so much about...everything. I wanna spend some more time with him is all."

"All right. I'll tell you what. You can't go out alone with him, but I'll talk to your father and maybe we can scrounge up another theater ticket for Thursday night. If Sven doesn't already have plans, he can join us."

"Really?"

"Really. The more the merrier. Besides, you've gotta show off that new dress I just bought you to more than just the family, right?"

Lizzie's eyes shined with gratitude. "Thanks, Mom!"

"You're welcome." Abbey returned her daughter's smile. "Now how about some hot chocolate?"

* * *

That evening, Abbey stayed true to her promise. She approached the subject with her husband while they sat in the back of the stretch limousine that drove them to a black tie reception in honor of the laureates. Jed tried to listen attentively, but his vacant stare betrayed his effort. And even if it hadn't, he still couldn't hide his detachment from the woman who knew him better than anyone in the world.

"Jed?" Abbey called out to him.

He turned his head slightly. "What?"

"Acknowledge that I'm speaking to you."

"I heard you."

"You tuned me out."

"I did not."

"Yes, you did. You tuned me out. You can't stand the thought of taking this guy with us on Thursday, so you're going to sit there and pretend we're not actually discussing it."

"My lack of interest has nothing to do with this guy."

"In that case, it's about your refusal to admit that your little girl is growing up."

"Here we go." He rolled his eyes, preparing himself for the same conversation they had had dozens of times since Liz hit her teenage years.

"Don't look at me that way. I am not nagging you. I just don't think it's unreasonable for me to expect your undivided attention when I'm trying to talk to you about one of the girls. And your undivided attention is something I rarely have when I bring up the subject of Lizzie dating."

He waited for her to take a breath so he could interrupt, but one word led to the next with no break in her passionate speech, so he sat back patiently, allowing her to finish.

"I don't like it either," she continued. "But I'm the one who has to run interference because she thinks you're being unreasonable and while I agree you're not, I don't understand why you can't sit down and have a rational heart-to-heart with her about why you disapprove. Instead, you just put your foot down and expect her to obey. Well, she won't. If you don't stop acting like a dictator, she's going to rebel and do whatever the hell she wants and then we'll really have a problem."

"Let me know when it's my turn to talk."

"Why bother? You're a million miles away."

He remained silent until it was clear Abbey had nothing more to say. "For your information, if Lizzie wants this Sven kid to come on Thursday, I don't have a problem with that. Well, I do. I'd prefer it be just family, but if this is what she really wants, I'll go along."

"Without complaint?"

"Without complaint."

"Okay then." She scooted closer to him.

"And I was not tuning you out just then. I was wondering how much trouble my back is going to give me tonight."

"Have you been taking your pills?" He turned a bashful grin her way. "You're a horrible patient, you know that?"

"Tell me how to get through tonight and I promise I'll take my medication first thing in the morning."

"I wish I had a magic potion, Hon, but I don't. Looks like we might have to call it an early night."

"I hate that idea."

"You should have thought of that before you hurled me over your shoulder this morning," she teased.

The limo pulled up to the ritzy Operakällaren, a five-star restaurant housed across the harbor from the Royal Palace inside the historic Stockholm Opera House. When the driver opened Abbey's door to help her out, she stood, her hands immediately covering her arms to shield her from the cold.

She was wearing a gold satin skirt that flowed down to her knees with a slit high enough to show off a glittery silver satin underlay. But it was the long-sleeved, high-collared top of the cocktail dress that caught the attention Yosh Takahashi from the long winding sidewalk outside the main dining room. In a stunning shade of shimmering champagne that appeared nearly nude under the street lamps, it was lined with winter crystal accents. It sparkled against her skin as she shivered in the breeze until Jed draped her gold wrap around her from behind.

"The two Doctor Bartlets," Yosh greeted them.

"Dr. Takahashi, good evening." Abbey offered him a polite smile as she looped her arm through Jed's.

"It's actually the two Doctors Bartlet, Yosh. Doctors is plural."

Unimpressed and insulted by Jed's correction, Yosh replied, "Ah, yes. I was never much of a student of English grammar."

"Obviously." Jed looked to his wife when she poked him with her elbow.

Before they could continue down the dreaded path of one-upmanship, Yosh excused himself. "My companion is waiting for me inside. If we bump into each other later, I'll introduce you."

"We'll be there," Jed assured him.

"Not you," Yosh shot back. "Just your wife." He smiled at Abbey once again and cocked one brow at Jed as he turned to head into the restaurant.

"Companion," Jed sputtered. "Like any woman would willingly escort him to this place."

"Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"Why do you provoke him?"

"It's the kind of relationship we have."

"And it drives you crazy, so just leave him alone."

"Am I to be blamed for the little exchange out here tonight?"

"Yes. You corrected his grammar even though you know English isn't his first language."

"He's a Nobel Laureate. There's no excuse."

"If that's the case, then what's stopping you from learning to speak Japanese?" A proud smirk dominating his features, Jed held his head high. "Oh God. Don't tell me..."

He nodded. "That's right, Baby."

"You learned Japanese just so you could spar with him?"

"If we're going to argue economic theory, I want to make damn sure I'm properly armed."

"And the way to do that would be to lapse into Japanese every other word."

"Every other word? I'll have you know I'm almost fluent." Abbey threw him a skeptical glare. "Well, okay," he conceded. "But I know enough to command a decent conversation."

"When was the last time you had a decent conversation with Yosh Takahashi?"

"I have hope."

"No you don't. Like you said, THIS is your relationship."

"Look, there's nothing I can do about him being here so I might as well make the best of it."

"To most people that would mean ignoring him. Why is it to you it means getting the upper hand?"

"Because that's how my mind works."

"Apparently."

When they arrived at the arched doorway of the dining room, Jed straightened his tie and in front of a long stream of photographers and dignitaries waiting for him, he took Abbey's hand and said softly, "We're on."

TBC


	28. Chapter 28

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 28

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Abbey teased Jed about his missing lecture notes; during a shopping trip in Stockholm's Gamla Stan, Abbey agreed to talk to Jed about inviting Liz's crush, Sven, to the theater with them; Jed tweaked Yosh outside a formal reception for the Nobel Laureates; Jed was courted by the majority leader to run for the U.S. House of Representatives (chapter 16)

Summary: It's breakfast with the Bartlets as they plan out their day in Stockholm; Leo, Jenny, and Mallory arrive; Jed confides in Leo

* * *

"Mom bought me the coolest theater dress yesterday! It's bubblegum pink and it's knit so it clings to my figure! It makes me look super thin."

"You don't need something to make you look thin, dear. You already are."

"Yeah, but still. This makes me look so much better."

"The dress sounds lovely. You'll have to try it on for me after breakfast."

"I will! I can't wait till you see it!"

At one end of the table, Lizzie described her theater attire to her Grandma Mary. At the other end, Ellie made notes in the margins of a glossy brochure while Zoey climbed onto her knees in her chair and hunched over the literature to look on in awe.

"And they have real life carriages that they used to transport the royal family in!" Ellie's eyes, a sparkling blue-green, suddenly grew to twice their normal size. Her enthusiasm delighted Zoey.

"Can I ride them?" the toddler asked.

"I don't think so. They're just there for us to look at."

"But why can't I ride them?"

"Because they're old. They're just on display, Zo. Like the horses."

"Can I ride the horses?"

"Zoey, sit down in your chair. You're going to hurt yourself." Abbey helped her youngest daughter settle back into her seat, then buttered a piece of toast for her as she chatted with her father and brother-in-law. "Millie will be here bright and early tomorrow."

"What about Mrs. Landingham?" Jack asked.

"Her doctor said she's too sick to travel. She's got a really bad case of the flu."

"That's a shame."

"Jed's pretty disappointed."

"Is Kate still coming?"

"As far as I know."

"Her flight was delayed because of weather," James informed them.

"And Leo and Jenny will be here this afternoon. Sometime after we visit the stables and before dinner probably."

That caught Liz's attention. She interrupted her conversation with Mary to remind her mother, "That's when we were supposed to go shopping for shoes."

"We may have to put that off until tomorrow, Lizzie."

"You said we could do it today."

"I shouldn't have said that until we had a chance to go over the schedule."

The Bartlet clan had gathered around the large oak table in the breakfast dining room of the Grand Hotel every morning in Sweden. This was command central, the place where the family would meet, armed with maps of Stockholm, so they could carefully plot their adventures for the day.

On this morning, it was Ellie and Zoey's turn to be in charge of the itinerary and it wasn't just Lizzie who wouldn't get what she wanted. Much to their cousin Brad's disappointment, the girls had orchestrated a day he knew he'd live to despise.

"I don't care about stupid horses!" the ten-year-old complained.

"Then don't come," Ellie replied.

Shocked that anyone could be less than excited about a visit to the Royal Stables, Zoey pushed her elbows to the middle of the table. With furrowed brows, she asked the little boy, "Why don't you like horses?"

"Because they're boring! We don't even get to ride them. It's just a silly museum where they show them to us and we can't touch them or anything. And anyway, horses are dumb!"

"That's enough, Brad," Kellie warned.

"She asked me."

"And you answered. Now that's enough."

"Horses are NOT dumb!" Zoey's emerald eyes flashed with indignation.

Meanwhile, in typical teenage fashion, Lizzie had tuned out the rest of her family and continued her discussion with Mary. "So I wanted to get a pair of the clear, colorless pumps like my mom has."

"I'll take you shopping if you want."

"You will?"

"As long as it's okay with your parents."

"Thanks!"

"It's my pleasure. Now tell me more about this boy."

"Sven? You're gonna love him! He's got the bluest eyes in the whole world."

"Bluer than yours?" Mary asked.

"Yep! They're much bluer than mine and my dad's."

"Speaking of your father, how does he feel about Sven?"

"He's totally cool. Mom even got him to agree to take Sven with us to the theater on Thursday."

Careful to make sure Abbey was distracted, Zoey climbed back up on her knees. "Ellie, how come we can't ride the horses?"

"We just can't, Zoey. Don't worry about it though. We'll still have fun."

"Not all of us. I don't wanna go," Brad whined to Kellie once again. "Do I have to go?"

"Yes. Ellie and Zoey weren't crazy about visiting the glass blowing factory yesterday, but they went because it's where you wanted to go. Now we're going to do what they want to do."

Unsatisfied with that answer, Brad turned his attention to Jack. "Dad, do I have to go see the horses?"

"You heard what your mother said."

"How come Lizzie didn't have to go to the glass blowing factory?"

"Duh," Ellie sniped. "Because she's older."

"Ellie, be nice," Abbey warned her middle daughter.

"She's never nice." Brad narrowed his eyes at his eight-year-old cousin.

"Bradley," Jack admonished his son.

"I hate horses! They're all dumb!" Brad grumbled as he fell back against his chair.

"STOP IT!" An angry Zoey stood up in her chair with her hands on her hips.

"Zoey! This is the last time I'm going to tell you! Sit down and behave or I'm going to strap you in to a booster seat!" Abbey sat her back down before returning her attention to James. "She's definitely got Jed's temper."

"I don't know." James grinned at his daughter. "I seem to remember you just as vociferous and animated as a child."

"Yes, but I'm a much calmer adult."

"We'll ask Jed about that. Something tells me he might disagree."

"Only if it'll win him points with you," Abbey quipped with good-natured sarcasm. "Anyway, as I was saying, several of Jed's colleagues at Dartmouth along with Dean Callaway will be here Sunday morning. Jed's trying to arrange cars to meet them at the airport."

"I wouldn't think that would be a problem."

"Yeah except it's his dime because, technically, each laureate is only allowed 16 guests."

"And how many is Jed bringing?" James braced himself for the answer.

"Thirty-eight," Abbey said without reservation. "Are you surprised?"

James laughed as he recalled previous birthday parties for the girls when Jed had to rent tables and chairs to transform the farm into a miniature carnival because he had invited every stranger with a child, previous anniversary celebrations overflowing with couples, some of whom Abbey had never even met before. This was typical Jed, a man who loved to celebrate with a crowd, so it was only fitting that he'd invite so many to share in this special moment.

"The only thing that surprises me, Abigail, is that he stopped at 38."

"Reluctantly." Abbey shook her head at her husband's stubbornness. "I told him if he invited one more person, the prize committee would revoke his award."

Zoey, who wasn't the least bit fazed by Abbey's scolding a few seconds earlier, tried again to reach out to her cousin. "But why don't you like horses?"

"I just don't." Brad calmly shrugged.

The three-year-old took a breath and replied, "I like horses! My daddy's gonna buy me one when I'm big!"

"Yes, he is!" Jed rounded the corner to join his family at the table. "As soon as you're old enough to ride by yourself, Zo, we'll get you your very own horse."

"It's about time. I was about to send up a search party." Abbey handed him his silverware. "I ordered your breakfast."

"Sorry. The media won't get off my back."

"The price you pay for being a celebrity. Every day is another stroke of the ego. I'm worried about how I'm going to handle you when we leave this place."

"You've dealt with my illusions of grandeur quite well over the past fifteen years. I don't see why this would be any different."

"They're not illusions anymore."

"Were they ever?" He grinned.

"Up until the time the Swedes got a hold of you." She gave him a wink as she handed him his juice in a crystal goblet garnished with a fresh orange wedge.

"Speaking of which, did you order this in Swedish or English?"

"What difference does it make?"

"I just want to know if I actually got what you ordered," he teased.

"She started to order in Swedish, but then got her words mixed up and finished in English instead of looking it up." Liz returned Abbey's steely glare. "What? He asked."

"You can forget about those shoes, young lady." Abbey tweaked her.

"That's okay. Grandma said she'd take me after breakfast." Liz smiled triumphantly at her mother.

Jed chuckled at the exchange as he unfolded his napkin and placed it on his lap. "So, why are we talking about horses?"

"Because we're going to the Royal Stables today!" Ellie gleefully told him. "And Brad doesn't want to come, but Uncle Jack and Aunt Kellie said he has to."

"Aw, come on, Bud. You know what they've got there?" Whether they were boys or girls, Jed always knew the way to a child's heart.

"What?" Brad looked unengaged, propping his elbow on the table and resting his chin in his palm.

"This is just a rumor, but I hear they have displays of jousting knights."

"REALLY?"

"Really!"

"Okay, I'll go, but only if we can see the knights. Can we, Uncle Jed?"

"I'm sure you all can fit that in. Unfortunately, I won't be there. I've got a lecture this morning followed by a few more press interviews."

"Daddy always has stuff to do in the mornings." Back in New Hampshire, Jed and Abbey had told Ellie that this would be somewhat of a working vacation for Jed, but it still disappointed her that his mornings were packed.

"Sorry, Ellie. I'll get out as soon I can and I'll catch up with you guys this afternoon, okay?" Ellie nodded. Had Jed been watching her closely, he would have seen the hesitation in the gesture. Instead, his focus shifted the second he fumbled with his glass and sprayed his unzipped briefcase with orange juice. "Damn it!"

"I'll clean it up," Abbey offered, taking several soiled notecards from his hand.

"No, it's okay. They're gonna be sticky. I have a copy of everything upstairs. I'm gonna go grab them."

"Why don't you ask Alexander if he wouldn't mind..."

"I still feel weird about that."

"That's why they gave you a personal attaché, Jed."

"I can do it myself."

"Your breakfast is going to get cold. Eat first."

"I was up half the night polishing these up, Abbey. I can't concentrate on anything until I find the other set. Excuse me." He pushed his chair out from the table.

"Get a different tie while you're at it!" she called out to him when he started to walk away.

Jed stopped midstride. He turned to his wife and held out the bottom of his tie. "What's wrong with my tie?"

"It's canary yellow."

"I didn't ask you to identify it. I asked what's wrong with it. I think it looks fine."

"Nothing's wrong with the tie. It's a perfectly nice tie. But yellow doesn't look so hot on camera."

"Yellow looks great on camera. Just wait and see."

"Okay, but I think you're going to be disappointed."

"I'll live with the shame," he muttered under his breath as he left the dining room.

* * *

Upstairs, Jed headed straight to the suite. He left the front door ajar when he arrived and scanned the room in search of his lecture notes. Vaguely remembering that Abbey had lured him off the coach and into bed when she saw him slumped over and sleeping on the sofa, he retraced his steps, swaggering into the bedroom to find another set of notes sitting undisturbed on the old mahogany chest in the corner.

As he picked them up, he caught sight of the ties hanging in the closet. He looked down at the one he was wearing, Abbey's words replaying in his mind. He liked this tie. Lizzie had bought it for him with her own money as a Father's Day present when she was just six years old, and though he rarely wore it because of the color, he always kept it tucked away on his rack and called it his lucky tie.

He put it on only for special occasions and delivering a lecture on international economic reform to an audience of Swedish scientists certainly qualified. Still, he was unsure. He held up a traditional blue and silver striped tie to his neck as he looked in the mirror.

"You really should keep that front door closed. You never know what kind of riffraff might wander in."

Jed heard that familiar voice bellowing behind him. Before he even turned around, he called out for his old friend. "LEO!"

"How's it goin'?"

"A lot better now that you're here." Throwing the tie on the bed, he gave Leo a giant bear hug. "What are you doing here so early? We didn't expect you for a few more hours."

"The flight from Chicago made good time so we caught the earlier flight out of Zurich."

"Zurich, eh? Nothing like booking direct."

"I've been here seconds and you're already mocking me?"

"It's just how I am."

"Where is everyone?"

"At breakfast."

Leo noticed the abandoned blue tie. "Are you thinking about changing your tie?"

"Abbey thinks I should. What do you think?"

"She's right."

"Why?"

"Yellow doesn't look good on camera."

"Am I the only one who doesn't know this rule?" Jed draped the blue tie over his shoulder to get a side-by-side comparison of the two.

"Apparently."

"Lizzie gave me this tie."

"When she was too young to know better."

He weighed his options, then flung the blue tie over the chair. "Screw it! I'm wearing the yellow."

"If that's the impression you want to give off..."

"It is and you're not going to talk me out of it. Now, where are Jenny and Mallory?"

"Getting settled in the room. Mal can't believe the size of the suite."

"Let's go. I want to see them." Jed led the way out the front door. "Tired?"

Leo shook his head. "I slept on the plane."

"Hungry?"

"I'm always hungry."

"There's a terrific restaurant downstairs. You'll love it!"

* * *

After breakfast, everyone filtered through the revolving glass door in the lobby and went their separate ways. James and Mary spent the rest of the morning shopping and sightseeing with Elizabeth. At the Royal Stables, Jack and Kellie followed as Brad led the way to the display of knights and suits of armor while Abbey and Jenny took their daughters to visit the horse barn and see the old fashioned carriages out front.

And somewhere along the narrow streets of downtown Stockholm, Leo and Jed rode in the back of the shiny black sedan that would take them to Jed's lecture and press appointments.

"This is nice." Leo adjusted his seat.

"You should have seen the limo they put me and Abbey in last night."

"They really are treating you like royalty."

"This is how it's been everywhere I've gone the past two days. This whole week is going to be incredible. Did you know that the awards ceremony is carried live on national television?"

"No, I didn't."

"What do you think it means?"

"In what sense?"

"Well, think about it. The Swedes claim a literacy rate of nearly 100 percent. More than half the country speaks English. One-third of the citizens are trilingual. The drop-out rate is only four percent. Four percent, Leo. Can you imagine? Dropping out of school is a foreign concept to almost all Swedish kids. It seems every person I meet on the street is cultured and well-read. "

"That doesn't surprise me."

"Once a year, the entire country tunes in to watch a global celebration of science and literature, a gathering of the world's best and brightest contributors to humanity. This is what they do red carpet specials about. This is what the press talks about for weeks. And from the moment a Swedish child can talk, they're told that this is the height of success."

"It's a big deal."

"It is. Back home, our big deal is the Oscars."

"Not exactly the same thing, is it?"

"Not exactly."

"You think if American children were more enamored with the lives of the academic elite rather than Hollywood starlets, we'd have a better state of affairs?"

"It couldn't hurt."

"Would you feel better if Americans watched the Nobel Prizes being handed out instead of the Academy Awards?"

Jed immediately dismissed the notion. "They'd never watch. For one, in order for it to be live, which is what the networks would want, it would have to be broadcast early in the morning U.S. time. Second, no one would understand the countless speeches delivered in Swedish. And those who did would be bored anyway."

"Aren't you selling the American people short?"

"Leo, I've been here three days and even I'm bored by some of the presentations I've heard so far. Half the Swedes who show up to these events are fidgety by the end and these are nothing compared the 90 minutes of speeches we'll all have to endure during the actual awards ceremony."

"Then what's your point?"

"I'm just saying there are obvious differences in the culture."

"I won't dispute that." Leo watched as Jed pulled out a small baggie of pills from his briefcase. "Pills?"

"Abbey's been on my case to take them for my back. I'll forget unless I put them in my pocket."

"What's wrong with your back?"

"Herniated disc."

"How'd you do that?"

"Just...you know...Abbey and I got a little carried away one night..."

Leo caught on quickly. "Say no more." He rolled his eyes and smiled. "What have you got there anyway?"

"I don't know really. Anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants."

"Valium?"

"No, why Valium?"

"It's what they gave me when I got back from Vietnam."

"Yeah, but for stress, right?"

"No. I hurt my neck. I mean, it did a great job of treating the psychological aftermath of the war, but it's also an ordinary muscle relaxant."

"You still take it?"

"I haven't taken it in years." Though he really had stopped filling his Valium prescriptions, Leo didn't bother to mention that his neck pain had vanished soon after Vietnam and that it was the psychological affects of the drug that kept him loyal to his doctor's appointments.

"Years, huh? I'm hoping for a shorter recovery time." Jed slipped the baggie into his pocket. "Anyway, I asked you to come with me this morning because I want to talk to you about something."

"Okay. Let's talk."

"No one but Abbey knows this yet."

"Sounds serious."

"What would you say if I told you I'm considering running for the House?"

"I'd say you just won an election for state legislature, so something tells me you're not talking about the New Hampshire House."

Jed nodded. "You'd be correct. I'm talking about the U.S. House. When we were in Washington, I met with the majority leader." He stopped when he caught Leo grinning. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just that I'm remembering all those hot summer days when we were canvassing for the Kennedy campaign. We were what...15 years old then?"

"Yeah. We were young...high school interns, complaining because there were so many of us that we were one rung under the adult volunteers who were one rung under the college interns."

"I'll never forget those days."

They were sketchy and fractured, but Jed's memories of those days were still roaming around in his mind as well. There was one memory in particular he new he'd never forget - the day he and Leo made a sacred pact for the future. "You said back then, when I ran for office, you'd run my campaign and you vowed no way would the interns be treated like servants."

"I knew I'd get a chance to prove it," Leo said proudly. "I knew you'd eventually run."

"Maybe not." Jed's demeanor changed in an instant. He was subdued now, suddenly serious and a bit sad. "What if I told you I'm not sure I will?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

"There's a lot to think about."

"What's there to think about?"

"Abbey. She's not wild about the idea of moving to Washington."

"Most congressmen don't move their families. Why would she think..." Jed's expression gave away his thoughts. "You want her to move?"

"I don't think I can do this without her, without the girls. I need them with me."

"Jed, you'll see them."

"When? Weekends? Holidays? Congressional recesses? I'm used to being with them all the time, Leo. I don't want my kids to grow up without their father." Jed paused before he asked the question that always teetered at the edge of his tongue. "How do you do it?"

"What?"

"How do you go to work for hours upon hours and come home after Jenny and Mallory are asleep, knowing you'll be leaving before they wake up in the morning?"

"The same way Abbey does," Leo answered flatly. "We do it because we have to."

"Abbey does work a lot, you're right. But she's almost done. Finally, my wife can pull back a little and stop working 100-hour weeks. And then what? Am I supposed to take over where she left off?"

"It's not like you're abandoning your family."

"Explain that to Zoey. She's a baby, Leo. I don't want to miss one minute of her growing up."

"You'd be amazed how much free time you're going to have as a congressman. Congress takes so many breaks. Most representatives take three-day, four-day weekends whenever they want. They don't show up for every vote."

"That may be true, but if I'm going to do this, I'm not going to do it half-assed. If I run...if I win, I am going to show up for every vote. I am going to be at every roll call. If I'm chosen to represent the people of my district, then damn it, I'm going to do the job they sent me there to do."

"I don't think there's an if, Jed. You and Abbey should talk about it some more because I'm fairly certain you'll both make the right decision."

"What is the right decision?"

"What do you think? You can do great things in Washington."

"Is it worth living so far away from Abbey and my girls, missing out on the little everyday things that happen in their lives?"

"That depends on what you want."

"At this moment, I'm not entirely sure what that is."

"I don't believe that. You engineered a conversation just a few minutes ago on the literacy rate in Sweden. It's nearly 100 percent. The drop-out rate is five times less than ours."

"You think that has something to do with this?"

"I think the reason you brought it up is because you want to help the average American compete with those numbers."

"In a perfect world, they could."

"And in an imperfect world, they need you to make them try. Do you want the kids who live in your district to achieve success despite the dismal statistics? Do you want the government to reach out to those whose parents don't have what it takes to motivate them to study and get good grades so they can go to college? Because if that is what you want, Jed...if you want to make that kind of difference, you're not gonna do it from the New Hampshire State House. And you're certainly not gonna do it from a lecture hall at Dartmouth."

Leo's statement echoed a truth Jed couldn't deny. As a state legislator, he had already battled for education reform, he had beaten down Head Start cuts, and he fought to ensure mandatory sentences for perpetrators of crimes against women. He did what he went to Concord to do. It was time to do more. The state house had given him a podium. But he was now ready for a microphone.

He turned his head to stare out the window as he pondered Leo's words.

TBC


	29. Chapter 29

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 29

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed told Leo he was asked to run for Congress

Summary: The Bartlets and the McGarrys take their kids to a storybook museum; Lizzie opens up to Abbey

* * *

Because the sun never quite emerged from behind the thick clouds on Thursday, the morning light cast a shadow over the city of Stockholm. Millie had arrived in Sweden early that day. Jetlagged and groggy, she insisted on using the afternoon to get settled into her room and catch up on her sleep while everyone else boarded a steam boat to Djurgården Island, a popular children's destination floating among the calm waters of the Baltic Sea.

A sprinkling of fresh snow covered the ground following the first snowfall of the season and though it was wet and wimpy, it didn't stop the kids from frolicking in it on the baby hills that shaped the curvy sidewalks outside the cottage known as Junibacken. Junibacken, the kids had read, was a fairy tale museum where characters created by popular Scandinavian storybook authors would gather to greet them.

Liz and Brad said they were too old for such a place, so Jack and Kellie took them to the Nordic Museum a few feet away while Jed, Abbey, Leo, and Jenny followed their eager daughters through the majestic walkway of a house designed to mesmerize them upon entry.

And that it did.

When they reached Storybook Square, they came face-to-face with heroes and heroines that appeared to have leapt out straight from the mystical depths of Swedish folklore. Some of them Ellie and Zoey recognized since Jed had been reading them the English version of Scandinavian fairy tales in the weeks before their trip to Stockholm. But truth be told, it didn't matter whether they knew them or not. To them, these characters were the stars of children's books and that alone was enough to elicit a shriek of excitement.

They overheard the story train preparing to embark and just as fast as their young feet would take them, they sprinted down the blue-stoned path towards the engineer. Ellie and Mallory jumped into the same cart while Jed helped Zoey up and sat beside her to hold her hand through the twists, turns, and tunnels along the tracks. Leo and Jenny assumed it would be the girls who would be spellbound by the magic of it all, but as the train departed and Jed began pointing at all the colorful sets, they realized he'd probably have as much fun as they did.

Always young at heart, Jed enthusiastically narrated and guided the girls on all the stops in the town square and through all the enchanted villages on the make-believe countryside. He went with them when they climbed inside a replica of Villa Villekulla - the home of Pippi Longstockings - and tried on her clothes, he enthusiastically led them to the contraption that propelled them into the air as if they were living the life of Karlsson in Karlsson on the Roof, and he happily sat with them inside a life-sized castle made entirely of glass as they perused the books of the Snow Queen series.

"Will you read to us, Daddy? Ellie asked him.

There was no hesitation on Jed's part. "You bet I will."

And so he did. He made himself comfortable on the glittery red carpet, sitting Indian-style with Zoey on his lap and Mallory and Ellie just across from him. He flipped through the book and glanced at the brilliant illustrations he knew would captivate the girls and as he held the pages out just a few inches so they could get a look, he began to tell the story of a girl who lived in a spectacular castle hidden in the forests of the Swedish north country.

Princess Katarina was her name, he told them, and her palace was made entirely of ice. It was lit by the soft glow of the moon and the vivid illumination of the Northern Lights reflecting off the glaciers that guarded the kingdom from intruders along the coast. She slept on a bed of clear crystal cubes at night and was driven over the frozen ponds into the village every morning in a golden carriage steered by reindeer.

Ellie and Mallory sat perfectly still, engrossed in every word of the plot, but it was Zoey who seemed to be hypnotized by Jed's deliberate tone. Anytime her father read to her, she fixated quietly on his mouth, bewitched simply by the sound of his voice.

From the railing high above Kiddie Corner, Abbey, Leo, and Jenny watched the foursome hover in Princess Katarina's starry night kingdom. Abbey looked on adoringly as her husband's expression changed with every syllable when he acted out the dialogue in character.

"'What does our Fair Princess say,' the villagers asked the maiden." Jed shifted his posture and cleared his voice. "'There's a storm on the way,' she shouted to the crowd. 'You must help my sisters and I build igloos to sit in the center of town and give shelter to those who have none.'"

Upstairs, Leo shook his head in amazement at Jed's way with the kids. "I think he could tell them that the sky is purple right now and they'd believe him without a second thought."

"He is convincing," Abbey replied. "More than anything else, he loves to read to kids. He loves their response to literature. In fact, if they already know the story, he'll change it just to see their reaction. Sometimes when he reads to the girls, he makes it up as he goes along."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. He says it helps with their imagination. And he's right. Ellie's already written so many stories herself and she gets most of her ideas by sitting there and thinking about how Jed constructs his."

"He does it extemporaneously?"

"Yep. Speaking, whether it's to adults or children, is probably his greatest talent."

"Is he making up this story?" Jenny asked. Abbey nodded. "How do you know that?"

"The book's written in Swedish and Jed is far from fluent."

The trio grinned as they turned their heads, once again, to spy down below.

"And so the townspeople gathered around to collect snow from the tall drifts all over the village. But they were quickly running out of time, for just beyond the hills where a glimpse of sunlight usually peeked above the horizon, dark, angry clouds covered the sky and colder temperatures forced a gust of wind to churn the fallen snow into a silver storm headed straight towards the kingdom..."

The girls gasped at the thought and when they did, Jed proudly smiled and turned the page.

* * *

After an authentic Swedish smorgasbord on the steamboat bringing them back from Djurgården Island, the Bartlets rushed up to their room to change into more formal attire. Every December, it was tradition in the Bartlet house to attend a performance of The Nutcracker and this year, they'd get to see a Swedish production at the Royal Opera House.

While her daughters milled around the suite trying to hurry her along, Abbey sat in front of the mirror in the master bedroom, carefully curling her long brown lashes before twisting her mascara wand. She was staring at her own reflection when Lizzie snuck up behind her.

"I'm almost ready," she insisted.

"Take your time," Liz replied.

The teenager was dressed in the elegant theater dress they had bought days earlier. Bubblegum pink, just like she wanted. It was made of a slimming knit fabric and jeweled with just enough matching pink sparkles to give it the illusion of a subtle shine. She was taller than she normally was and when Abbey turned around to find out why, she saw her daughter wearing a pair of clear pumps, similar to her own.

"Those are the ones your grandparents bought you?"

"Yeah. The heel's a little higher than the ones I had before." Lizzie turned her ankle to model her 'Cinderella Slippers' and as she did, she gazed up at her mother and asked, "Do you like them?"

"I do. They look lovely. And you, my dear, look beautiful tonight."

"Thanks."

Abbey noticed her fidgety demeanor as Liz collapsed heavily onto the bed. "What's going on?"

"I'm nervous."

"About Sven meeting your dad?"

"Yeah."

"Just remember, no matter what happens, your father loves you."

"The fact that you have to remind me of that scares me, Mom."

Abbey chuckled. "It's not gonna be that bad, Lizzie. Sven is just a crush. We both understand that. It's not like you're asking for permission to date him. And besides, your father will revel in the fact that in a few short days, we'll be leaving both Sweden and Sven."

"Still not making me feel better."

"This'll do the trick." Abbey joined Liz on the bed and grabbed the back of her head to hold her stare. "We'll be there to buffer."

"You won't let him ask embarrassing questions?"

"I promise."

"Okay." Lizzie gave her mother the hint of a smile. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"When was your first kiss?"

That wasn't entirely unexpected, but Abbey was surprised by her timing. She pretended to think for a moment before she answered. "My first kiss?" She paused once again and then looked straight into Liz's eyes and said, "When I was your age."

"Do you remember him?"

"Yeah. His name was Evan Williston and he was the most handsome boy I had ever met...up until that point. When he asked me out, I thought I was going to faint."

"Were you allowed to date when you were my age?"

Now she understood. This was another attempt by Liz to convince her she was growing up. "It was a different time back then, Lizzie."

"Were you allowed to date?"

Abbey thought about fibbing a little so she could derail her daughter's questions and avoid a disagreement, but she had vowed as a mother to never lie to her girls. "Yes, I was. Mostly in groups, but yes, I was allowed to date. But the idea of dating was different."

"How so?"

"When I say date, I mean a bunch of us would meet up at the pizza place or the soda shop for a milkshake and a bite to eat and we…or at least I…would be home at 10 p.m. every night. It was nothing like what you want to do."

"How do you know what I want to do?"

"Let me guess. If I told you you could go out with any guy you wanted without a curfew, you'd insist on hitting the new string of teen night clubs in Boston and staying out until two in the morning. Right?"

"The club doesn't even close till two."

"I rest my case."

Lizzie surrendered her point. "So did you do anything more than kiss this guy?"

"No. Maybe it was the time period or the fact that my parents kept me more sheltered than my friends, but kissing was the biggest thing in my world."

"Why did you guys break up?"

"Because at that age, you have no idea what you want in a boyfriend. And they have no idea what they want in you."

"Yes, they do. Some of them do."

"Lizzie, if this is about Sven, I want to emphasize again that we're leaving in just a few days. I don't want you to be crushed when you have to say goodbye to him."

"I won't," Liz insisted. "And anyway, it's not about Sven. He's just a boy I like. It's not like I think I'm in love with him."

"Your first kiss should be special. It should be something you'll always remember, something you'll tell your own daughter about one day."

"It was special...when it happened last year...with Jeff."

"Oh." As thrilled as she was that Liz was telling her this, Abbey couldn't deny that when it came to her daughters, Jed wasn't the only one who still thought of them as babies.

"It was no big deal. But...the thing is, the reason Jeff and I broke up...it wasn't for the reason I originally told you. It wasn't because I didn't like him anymore. It was because he didn't like me...well, I mean he did...just not the way I wanted him to."

"What do you mean?"

"After the Homecoming game, all he wanted to do was make out. Some of my friends were going hot and heavy under the bleachers and in their boyfriends' cars and that's what Jeff wanted to do too."

Abbey braced herself for the rest. She worried about what was coming, but she wasn't about to overreact now that Lizzie was opening up. "And what did you want to do?"

"Not that. I mean, we had kissed before and stuff, but he was like clawing at my sweater...almost like he was trying to show off that he could do it too. It was just...it didn't feel romantic, you know?"

"Did you tell him to stop?"

Liz nodded. "Yeah. But at the dance the next night, he did it again. This time, he even ripped a few of the sequins off my dress when we were alone. I told him to knock it off and he called me a little girl and told me to go back to eighth grade. He said if I wanted to be in high school, then I had to accept that this what everyone does."

"It's not what everyone does, Lizzie."

"It's what a lot of them do."

"Sweetheart, we've talked about this. We've talked about how important it is for you to decide what's right for you and not give in to peer pressure."

"I know, Mom. I don't need a sappy lecture about how I'm special just the way I am. That's my point."

"What's your point?"

"That you can trust me. I said no to Jeff. At the eighth grade dance, he was just like me, but then in high school, he changed. I broke up with him, even though I really liked him, because I know that I'm not ready for the kind of stuff he wanted to do. So why won't you and Dad trust me to make that decision with other boys?"

"We do trust you to stand up for yourself in those kinds of situations. You're a strong girl, Lizzie. We know that."

"No, you don't. If you did, you'd give me more freedom. You won't let me date, not even in groups. You won't let me go out alone with Sven, you won't let me wear make-up, you won't even let me choose my own clothes."

"Lizzie, there are reasons, besides trust, that you're not allowed to do some of those things. The make-up thing...you don't need it. And as for the clothes, for the most part, we don't interfere with that, but when it comes to dances and parties, I do like to check out what you're wearing. Because if I don't, you're gonna walk out the door in nothing but miniskirts and tube tops."

"I wouldn't do that."

"Ah, so you didn't try to show up to a Halloween party in a French Maid outfit with your underwear hanging out just a couple of months ago?"

"I was just having fun."

"Just having fun is the problem. You intentionally misled us. You made us think you were wearing an entirely different costume and you switched it at the last minute because I was working late and you thought your dad wouldn't notice."

"Okay, I was wrong."

"Yeah, you were. And it's that attitude that makes me less sympathetic when you complain about not being allowed to date "

"What does that have to do with dating?"

"You've given me no reason to believe that you won't try to pull similar scams on us if we let you date. You're not old enough to know people. I mean, really know people. And for that reason, your father and I get a say in who you date, not because we want to irritate you or control you, but because we want to make sure that whoever takes you out of our house will treat you well."

"I know that."

"I'm glad you do, but I fear that you'll do what you want to do, just like you do with so many other things. That's unacceptable, especially when it comes to dating."

"I won't."

"I wish I could take your word for it."

"So you don't believe me." Liz let out a frustrated sigh. "Great."

"Hey, you haven't made it easy to believe you. I don't think you're lying to me right now. I think you're telling the truth when you say you won't sneak around, but I'm just not convinced you won't change your mind one night when your dad and I say so-and-so can't take you out. I think you'll be tempted to lie to us and I can't take that chance."

"So then lock me up forever!"

"Believe me, your dad wants to," Abbey teased in hopes of lightening Liz's mood. "Lizzie, there are a lot of creeps out there...a lot of young men who aren't just going to walk away if you reject them. And you're fooling yourself if you think you can handle all of them."

"Well, the guys I'm interested in aren't like that."

"I bet you didn't think Jeff was like that."

"Now I know better."

"It's not good enough." Liz rolled her eyes and got up. Abbey followed her, pressing a comforting hand to Liz's shoulder from behind. "You're fourteen and right now, you think you know what's right for you, but you have to listen to me when I say there's a lot you still need to learn about the world, Elizabeth."

"I'm not arguing with you about that."

"Good. So in the meantime, you're going to have settle for the fact that your father and I trust you to back out if something doesn't feel right, just like you did with Jeff. But Sweetie, don't ask much more from us because as much as we both love you, we realize that when you want to do something, you tend to have a tenuous relationship with the truth."

Liz opened her mouth to defend herself again, but this time, she couldn't. Abbey was right. In just the past few months, she had lied about wanting to try out for the basketball team, she had made up a story about why she had broken up with Jeff, and she tried to sneak her provocative costume past them at Halloween. She really didn't have a case to plead for their trust and they didn't have any reason to give it.

"Can we start over? I'll be more honest with you guys from now on."

"Yes, we can start fresh, but understand it's a two-way street. If you want us to trust you, then you're going to have to trust us enough to tell us what you're up to. When you do that, you'll prove to us that we can loosen up a little and then maybe we can sit down and talk about the other things you want to do. Deal?"

"Deal."

"So you kissed Jeff, huh?" Lizzie nodded. "And he broke your heart." She nodded again. "Why didn't you tell me? Did you think I would be mad at you?"

She shook her head. "It was just embarrassing."

"There is nothing you should ever be embarrassed to tell me. That's what I'm here for. Besides, I'm proud of you."

"For breaking up with him?"

"Yes, and for not doing what someone else tried to pressure you into doing. Part of being an adult is being comfortable enough with yourself to know your limits and to not let anyone change them."

"I try not to."

"In the future, don't ever be afraid to tell me anything, okay?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

A devilish smirk framed her lips as she replied, "On what you say when I tell you I really wanna try on some of your make-up."

Abbey stood in front of the vanity to block her view of the cosmetics, but when Liz caught on to her playful reaction, she surrendered. "You know, I do have some pink lip gloss that might go really nice with your dress."

"Can I?"

She moved out of the way as she handed her daughter a tube of gloss. "Don't go overboard. I get final say on how it looks."

"I'll take it easy. Will you do my hair like yours?"

"You bet. Sit down."

"I want it really big!" Liz watched her reflection as Abbey pulled the sides of her hair up towards her crown and twisted it around a center lock.

"Like that?"

"Bigger."

Abbey pushed it forward to poof her bangs out a bit more. "I'm not going any bigger than that."

"Will you do my hair for the awards ceremony too?"

"No."

"No?" Liz turned in her chair too look up at Abbey.

"We're going all out for that, Baby Doll! I thought you and I could get our hair and nails professionally done and maybe, if you really want to, we'll get you a make-up lesson."

"Are you joking?"

"No."

"Is this because we're starting over?"

"No. This is to show you that while there are some things that are not negotiable, I'm capable of compromise. I want the best for you, but I also try hard to be reasonable, Lizzie. You just have to trust me enough to let me."

"Liiiiiizzzziiiiiieeee!" Ellie's voice echoed down the hall before she walked into the room. "Your boyfriend's here."

"He's not my boyfriend, Ellie!" Liz blotted her lips of the gloss as Abbey pinned her hair in place.

"That's what Daddy called him."

"Dad called him my boyfriend?"

Ellie shook her head. "He asked what makes him think he's good enough to be your boyfriend."

In her haste to jump to her feet, Liz nearly knocked over the vanity. "Sorry!" she shouted as she ran out.

Hearing Ellie's mischievous giggle, Abbey signaled her middle daughter. "Come here." She kneeled down to the eight-year-old's level. "Your dad didn't really ask him that, did he?"

"Sven isn't here yet. Daddy told me to come in here and say that because he said that's the only way to get you and Lizzie out of the bedroom."

"He did, did he?"

"Uh huh!" She laughed and with a quick turn, Ellie skipped out of the room while Abbey made herself comfortable on the cushioned vanity chair.

"Let's just see how long I can make him wait when I put my mind to it."

TBC


	30. Chapter 30

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 30

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: The Bartlets and McGarrys enjoyed an afternoon at a storybook museum; Lizzie and Abbey had a long talk about her less-than-honest behavior of the past; Abbey convinced Jed to let Liz bring Sven with them to the theater (chapter 27); Jed and Abbey discuss the possibility of Jed running for congress (chapter 19); Jed tells Leo he was approached to run (chapter 28)

Summary: Jed is surprised by Sven; Jed and Abbey enjoy a quiet dinner where they make a decision about him running for congress; Jed teases Abbey with the possibility of another surprise

* * *

"Finally! A production of The Nutcracker the way Tchaikovsky intended!" Jed led the way as the Bartlets walked down the marble grand staircase towards the beautiful gold foyer of the Royal Opera House. "That was great, wasn't it?"

"It was a brilliant show," Abbey agreed.

"That's because it hadn't been tampered with. So many producers think they know more than one of the greatest Romantic composers in the world."

"I agree with you, if I may, Dr. Bartlet."

Jed glanced at the 16-year-old boy who was clutching Elizabeth's hand down to the foot of the stairs. "You do?" he asked.

"I do. I've been to many productions of The Nutcracker as well. Just last year, my parents and I saw it in London and it was almost unrecognizable. The arrangement was out of order and they left out part of the Mother Ginger dance."

"Part of it?"

"Yes, sir. In symphony orchestras, they never take out part of the music. They leave it as the composer intended it, yet in ballets, they feel free to adjust at will."

"You're right," Jed replied. "They do that to fit the requirements of the dance, as if THAT were the point. They should dance to the music, not play to the dance."

"I agree. I believe the problem is inexperienced choreographers. They think they can stage it better than Tchaikovsky intended it. That's why I prefer the symphony myself. No one ever suggests dropping a movement of Beethoven's Third Symphony."

"You really like classical music?" Jed wasn't sure if the young man actually was a fan or if Elizabeth had coached him to say the right things.

"A great deal. I learned to enjoy it as a young boy. My parents and I used to travel a lot and my mother, she was always taking me to the concert hall and the theater in every country we visited. I learned right away that music, especially classical music, was the one thing that never changed no matter what country we were in or what language we were speaking." Sven grew nervous as Jed eyed him quizzically. "Did I say something wrong, sir?"

"No, no. It's just that I'm accustomed to people your age concerned more with the latest rock band craze than with the intricacies and themes of classical music."

"I'm not like most people my age. Contemporary music, it...well...it..."

"It sucks!" Jed concluded.

Sven chuckled. "Yes, sir, it does."

Liz and Abbey shared a smile as Jed nodded approvingly. Sven wasn't the person Jed expected to meet. When Abbey persuaded him to let Liz invite him to tag along to the show, Jed assumed he was just another teenage boy who lusted after his daughter, but the sixteen-year-old quickly shattered that myth. Cultured and smart, studious and polite, Sven proved he was much more mature from the moment he met the Bartlets at their suite at the Grand Hotel.

He showed up with two bouquets of flowers - one for Liz and another for Abbey. He gave Ellie a porcelain Scandinavian doll and he even bought a Swedish horse figurine for Zoey. He addressed Jed as Dr. Bartlet and handed him a copy he bought of the older man's Nobel-winning articles, asking him if he wouldn't mind autographing the first page of the bound text.

Jed paid careful attention to the way Sven held the car door open for Elizabeth, the way he offered her his jacket when she seemed to be cold, the way he complimented her not just on her beauty, but on her intellect and bantered with her respectfully when she argued his claim that it was the Swedes who invented the hot tub.

And as if his behavior so far wasn't enough to win Jed over, when the family turned the corner on the way to the Café Opera, the upscale Swedish eatery next to the Opera House, Jed was captivated by the way Sven just stared at his daughter, adoringly, after he followed her inside and pulled out her chair.

To Jed, it was important for anyone who spent time with his girls to take care of them just as he would. He wanted them to be addressed with respect and honor, the way he always addressed Abbey. He wasn't crazy about Lizzie spending time with any boy, not because he didn't trust her, but because he wasn't sure that boys her age were up for the challenge of treating his little girl the way she deserved to be treated. Tonight though, he realized that Sven might be an exception.

"Jed?" It took a few seconds to bring him back from his thoughts, but Abbey managed.

"Huh?"

"You didn't tell me everyone was meeting us here."

From across the room where he and Abbey were standing, Jed looked out to see Leo, Jenny, and Millie and her husband, Richard, all waiting for them. "Oh. I didn't mention it?"

"No, you didn't."

"I guess that's because we're not staying."

"What?"

"We're just here to drop off the kids."

A confused Abbey trailed behind her husband as they made their way to the table. She greeted their friends curiously when they didn't seem surprised that she and Jed came over to say goodbye to their girls. Jenny and Millie swore their lips were sealed and Abbey got no help from Jed, who grabbed her arm and whisked her away before she could badger little Zoey into telling her what Daddy had planned.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded as they walked out the door and strolled towards Kungsträdgården Park.

"Let me ask you something. When someone says they have a surprise planned, why can't you just relax and enjoy the ride? Why do you insist on knowing everything about it?"

"Because I hate surprises."

"You do not. You just hate the fact that, at this moment, I know something you don't."

"That isn't true." Jed threw her a stare, his brow arched skeptically. "All right, fine. I do hate that you know where we're going and I don't but that's only because I have no idea if I'm prepared for what's coming."

"Believe me, sweetheart, you're prepared. Trust me, okay?" He took her hand to guide her down a path to the right. "We're here."

* * *

Across from the large ice skating rink in the center of Kungsträdgården Park, the dark waters of the Baltic Sea shined under the moonlight. And at the ocean's edge was a trail of antique street lamps that lit a path to an elegant French restaurant. Here, on the cozy heated veranda on the skirts of an oval dance floor, Jed and Abbey sat across from one another and enjoyed a candlelight dinner for two.

"So when are you going to admit you were wrong about Sven?" Abbey asked.

"Who says I was wrong?" Jed returned, a twinkle in his sapphire eyes.

"Come on, he's not the punk you thought he was and you know it. He's a charming young man."

"Yeah, but that was tonight and one night isn't enough to truly form an opinion."

"That's fine. I'll invite him over tomorrow night too," she teased.

"Don't you dare," he warned. "I'll be happy to talk with Sven again, but tomorrow is Friday and I told you that Friday belonged to us."

"Mmm hmm, so we're doing something tomorrow too?"

"That's right and I don't want to hear another word about it. I'm not telling you what it is."

Her elbows gently balanced at the edge of the table, Abbey clasped her hands together and rested her chin on top. She had been the recipient of quite a few of Jed's surprises over the years, but what never ceased to amaze her was how good he was at knowing exactly what she wanted. He catered to her likes and dislikes, always putting them above his own and though she couldn't imagine what he had planned for tomorrow, she knew it would be just as romantic as the private dinner he had arranged tonight.

"This place is so beautiful," she said, gazing out at the water behind him. "You were right. This was a great surprise."

"I confess. I have an ulterior motive for wanting to get you alone tonight."

Abbey slipped her foot out of her stiletto heel and rubbed her toe under the hem of his pants. "You think I didn't know that?"

He couldn't help but respond when she winked at him, her eyes brimming with passion. "Hmm, well, I am hoping for a little of that later..."

"But?" Hypnotized by how she twirled a tendril of auburn hair around her finger, he lost his train of thought. "Jed?"

"Hmm?"

"You were saying..."

"Oh...um...yeah. I do have a real reason for bringing you here. I want to talk to you."

"What's wrong?"

"I know we said we'd wait until we got back from Sweden to discuss this, but..."

"Running for congress. That's what you want to talk about." It was on her mind too.

"I told Leo." He watched her expression change subtly.

She straightened her posture and put on a serious face as they both paused while the waiter poured them their wine. As soon as he walked away, Abbey asked, "What did Leo say?"

"He thinks I should do it."

"I said the same thing."

"I know."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"Nothing."

"What do you want, Jed?"

Jed anticipated that question and he prepared a response after his conversation with Leo, but sitting here with Abbey, he was afraid to say it. It made him sound selfish, he thought. What kind of husband leaves his wife so he can vote on national policy? What kind of father abandons his own children so he can serve the children of strangers? In his head, it was a benign idea, one that he could fantasize about, but somehow, saying it out loud soured the whole concept.

"That's a loaded question," he replied instead.

"You're the guy with all the answers."

"Not this time."

Abbey knew he was holding back. "Tell me the truth. You brought me here because you wanted to talk to me, so talk to me. Tell me what you want."

"What do I want? I want you and the girls to always be happy...and healthy. I want to meet every boy Lizzie has a crush on. I want to take Ellie stargazing again and teach her more about astronomy. I want to hold on to Zoey's seat when she's ready to ride a bike." His head lowered slightly, he gazed up at her through his lashes. "I want to wake up next to you every morning for the rest of my life."

She reveled in fact that despite all the attention and the opportunities, her husband was still a family man at heart. "I want all those things too."

"Then we're on the same page."

She shook her head. "Not exactly. What aren't you telling me?"

As he took a sip of his wine, his eyes confirmed her doubts. He couldn't hide anything from her anyway. He wasn't even sure why he tried. "Do you still think we can have it all?"

"No."

It shocked and saddened him to hear her answer so flatly. "You used to."

"Not anymore. Having it all sounds great in theory, but it's unrealistic in practice."

"I don't believe that."

"How can you not? Too many sacrifices, too many missed holidays, late nights at the hospital, early morning rounds. I've sacrificed time with the girls...with you. I've learned that I can't be supermom and superdoc all at the same time."

"You were gone a lot, Abbey, but when it came down to it, when we really needed you, you were there." He was perplexed by her coy little grin. "What?"

"This is just typical you. You romanticize everything, Jed. Instead of remembering all the times I wasn't there, you focus on the times I was."

"I'm remembering it how it was."

"You're remembering it how you wish it was. The truth is, I was gone a lot and you were mad a lot."

That dose of reality stung hard. "Fine. For the sake of argument, let's say I'm remembering it how I wish it was. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing...except you're rewriting our history. And you don't have to, not with me. Not to justify wanting to run for office."

It sometimes terrified him how she could read his mind. "That's not what I'm doing."

"This me, Jed. I know what's really going on here. I know your heart. And I know that right now, you're saying to yourself that you don't want to be an absent husband and parent..."

"No, I don't."

"Don't you think I felt the same way every grueling second of medical school and residency? It killed me to be away from my family. But you guys survived without me and in some ways, that killed me too. It was like you didn't really need me."

"Of course we needed you. I wouldn't have spent so many hours brooding about your work schedule if we didn't need you."

"I know that." She smiled. "We made it through my residency. We'll make it through congress."

"You're sure about that?"

His reaction was her confirmation. "I was right. You wanna run."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement, one that Jed could no longer deny. "I do wanna run."

"And since you've given up trying to convince me to move with you, you now want me to tell you that it's okay to go to Washington without me and the girls."

"Abbey..."

She didn't let him finish. "You feel like you're abandoning us, like we're going to end up resenting you someday. And you think that even though I'm sitting here telling you that that will never happen, I'm not being truthful about my feelings."

Jed raised his hand to interrupt her. "You know, I really do love that you know me better than anyone else, but this is getting a little scary. Get out of my head."

Abbey allowed for a soft laugh, then leaned forward to monopolize his attention. "Listen to me. I'm being perfectly honest, Jed. I want you to do this."

"Why are you so willing to get rid of me?" Had it not been for the lighthearted way he asked that question, Abbey would have assumed he misunderstood her encouragement.

"It isn't getting rid of you that I'm so willing to do. It's knowing that you're going to be out there working to make our district a better place for our girls to grow up that's getting me through this."

"You think they'll be all right with it...the girls?"

"We'll have to sit them down and talk to them about it. I like the idea you had before...giving them a vote. I think that might help smooth things over."

"Until they vote no," he joked. "If they do, are we going to have to honor that?"

"They're not going to vote no. Liz is going to offer to run your campaign and Zoey...all she needs is to hear the word Washington and she'll be thrilled. Ellie might be a problem, but I think she'll be okay."

"And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you ready for a real political campaign?"

Without hesitation, Abbey answered. "Yes."

"Are you sure? Because this won't be like running for the state house or like any other election we've been involved in before. There are going to be lots of media interviews, articles about me...you too. We'll both be in the spotlight. They may say some unkind things. They may make up rumors or help spread them. They may try to get our friends and neighbors to say bad things about us. They may..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. You sound like someone's targeting us."

"No. But there will be things in the press about what we do, our backgrounds, our education, financial situation. Everything."

"We have nothing to hide."

"We fight sometimes."

"All couples fight."

"Yeah, but you're bit a temperamental." Just as he predicted, her eyes flashed with indignation.

"Excuse me?"

He smiled. "Seriously, we've had big fights, the knock-down, drag-out kind, the kind that would sell a lot of papers if it ever happened in front of the wrong person."

"Then I guess we'll just have to stop fighting."

"Easier said than done."

"Not really. If you just stop annoying me..."

He chuckled. "I just want to make sure you're aware of what you're getting into."

Abbey reached across the table to take his hand. "I'm perfectly aware and I'm ready. We're gonna do this together."

"Together, huh?"

"Like always."

"We could lose."

"We won't."

"We might."

"If we lose, then we lose. But we won't."

She said it with such certainty that, for a second, it stirred Jed's confidence. No matter what, Abbey always believed in him. She was the one whispering in his ear that he could do anything he wanted to do and whenever he teetered on the brink of self-doubt, all it took was a few words from her to pull him off that edge.

He stared at her, sitting across from him, tracing imaginary circles over her wine glass. She was the love of his life and it had nothing to do with how she looked or how she felt in his arms. It was because he knew he was safe with Abbey, the one person who could help him when he's struggling, comfort him when he's upset, cheer him up when he's sad, and share in his joy when he's not.

He stood up then and extended his hand to her. When Abbey graciously accepted, husband and wife walked onto the dance floor. Jed held her right hand in his left and wrapped his other hand around her waist as Abbey laid her head on his shoulder and they swayed to the classical French love ballad, Plaisir d'amour.

"Why is it that you always know what I'm thinking?"

Abbey remained in this position, her head still on his shoulder and the palm of her hand touching his chest. "Like I said, I know your heart. It beats for all the right reasons."

"I love you so much."

"I love you too, Jed."

* * *

With his fingers gently pushing the small of her back, Jed led Abbey around the corner to where their driver, Felix, was waiting. Abbey climbed into the backseat of the limo, then helped Jed get settled as Felix handed him two big white boxes before he closed the door.

"What are those?"

"These are for you." Jed gave Abbey the first box. "Sorry I didn't have time to wrap it."

"What for?"

"You'll need some things for tomorrow."

Abbey flipped the lid to find a pair of tall brown leather boots. "Oh, Jed. They're lovely."

"I'm glad you like them."

"I love them!" She accepted the second box. "I can't believe there's more." She gasped as she opened this one, for inside lay a full-length burgundy-brown mink coat.

"Is it all right?"

"Are you kidding? It's wonderful!" Abbey pulled the coat out of the box and draped it around her shoulders. "You are the sweetest man in the world!" She yanked on his tie until she had his face close enough to kiss. "When did you have time?"

"After my lecture on Monday, I did a little shopping."

"Why didn't you give them to me then?"

"Because I wanted it all to be a surprise."

"So why didn't you wait until we got back to the hotel?"

"Because we're not going back to the hotel."

"We're not?" He shook his head, catching her off-guard. "What about the girls?"

"Last I heard, Millie and Richard were taking Zoey, Ellie was going to camp out with Mallory in Leo and Jenny's suite, and Lizzie was planning to stay up all night and rent some movies from downstairs to watch with her Aunt Kellie."

"So they know?"

"They've known for days. The only person who wasn't in on this secret, Sweet Knees, is you." He got special joy out of telling her that.

"You know how I hate that."

"Yeah, I know," he said with a smirk she couldn't miss. "It'll be worth it in the end. You'll forgive me when we get there."

"Get where?" Jed pursed his lips together, frustrating her even more. "You're unbelievable."

"Only when I'm trying to be."

"Which is always. Anyway, I can't go. I didn't bring anything with me."

Jed leaned forward to pick up the small bag he packed. "No excuses."

"Did you bring everything I need?"

He smiled devilishly. "There's a chance I might have forgotten your nightgown. Guess we'll just have to sleep in the nude."

"That depends on where we're sleeping," she mumbled, visibly annoyed that he wouldn't tell her their destination.

"Abbey?"

"What?"

"Relax and enjoy the ride."

TBC


	31. Chapter 31

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 31

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed was shocked to find that he liked Sven; Jed and Abbey decided that he should take up the offer to run for congress over a candlelight dinner for two that Jed had planned; Jed teased Abbey about the possibility of more surprises

Summary: Jed continues to have some fun with Abbey!

Rating: NC-17

* * *

"Are you taking me to a restaurant?"

Jed heard the question, but that wasn't one he expected. It took him a moment to turn away from his window to face his wife. "We just ate."

"I meant for a late dessert."

"You said you couldn't eat another bite"

"I know, but that could have been part of your plan when you ordered such a big meal."

"Yeah, because I'm all about the conspiracy." When she didn't respond to his crack, he turned back towards the window.

Then, several seconds later, Abbey called his name. "Jed?"

"No, Abbey, we're not going to another restaurant."

"Are you taking me to a club?" she asked.

"Nope. It's not a club."

"I'm going to keep guessing, you know."

"I know." He may have pretended to be annoyed, but he wasn't really. This was their game. Part of the fun of surprising Abbey was driving her wild with suspense. He loved her questions, the relentless way she pestered him, and he even loved that sometimes, when she was feeling really desperate for answers, she would slam him with frivolous threats she didn't really mean.

"Eventually, I will guess correctly and then you'll be in the uncomfortable position of ruining the surprise or lying to me."

"And I should choose the latter, right?"

"You do and you'll be sleeping on the couch for a week when we get back."

"Promises, promises."

The only thing that irked her more than his nonchalant attitude was that he took joy in the fact that it bothered her. "You're mocking me."

"Abbey..." he had to swallow a hearty laugh. "I'm really not. Though I must admit, I'm always amused watching the way you become frantically unhinged when you're not in the loop."

"I'm getting a headache and I bet you are too. So do us both a favor and tell me where we're going."

"I don't have to." Jed gestured out the window. "You can see for yourself."

Abbey leaned over to glance outside at the four-deck steamboat illuminated by a parade of lights. She looked to Jed for confirmation. "A steamboat?"

"It's quaint. That's what you said when we boarded a steamboat to Djurgården Island this morning." He got out of the car and took her hand to help her.

"Yes, but you had to have planned this a while ago, so why did you choose a steamboat?"

"Because by tomorrow, you'll agree that a ship is too pedestrian for this adventure."

"Adventure, huh? Now you've really piqued my interest."

"Oh NOW I have? As opposed to before when you were pouncing on me with questions?"

They boarded the boat, but Abbey stalled almost immediately. Holding on to the railing and gazing out at the water, she recalled a few romantic dinner cruises through the narrow locks of the River Thames when they lived in London.

Then she looked back fondly at the trip they took to Venice and the midnight gondola rides - under a cluster of stars - that sparked her love for cruising at night. Nothing could compare, she had told Jed all those years ago and now, as she stared into his eyes, she could see that he, too, remembered those words.

Though she was enchanted by the moonlight dancing above, after a few minutes, the December chill proved to be too much to handle, so she followed her husband as they made their way to their bridge-deck cabin, the Royal Suite.

It was much larger than Abbey expected, yet just as intimate as Jed wanted. She approached the closet with her coat and in front of her, she was stunned to find a familiar cocktail dress. She fingered the fabric, a rich burgundy velvet contoured to fit the swells of an hour-glass figure.

"Jed?"

"Yeah?"

"My dress is here." She held it out for him to see.

"Yeah."

"It was at the hotel. What's it doing here?"

"I had Alexander drop it off. You'll need it tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night?"

"Yeah." He pursed his lips together and grinned.

"You're driving me crazy!" What's more, she knew he was doing it on purpose. If he really didn't want to be badgered for the rest of the night, he wouldn't have left her such cryptic clues.

He smirked. "What else is new?"

"Wherever we're going, we're getting there by boat."

"That's right."

"But you won't tell me where we're going?"

"Nope."

"It's not funny anymore."

"I don't think it's funny."

"Then why are you laughing?"

"I'm not laughing. I'm smiling."

"Just tell me why you won't you tell me."

"Abbey?"

"Yeah?"

"You ask way too many questions."

Jed embraced her with a kiss so warm that Abbey nearly melted in his arms. He gently pushed her backwards. The backs of her knees hit the mattress and before she could regain her balance, she fell onto the bed. He climbed on top of her then and framed her face with his hands, pausing when he locked into her pretty green eyes. Finally, he kissed her again.

"Jed?" Abbey murmured between kisses. "Jed?"

"I'm not telling you anything else, Abbey."

"I was just going to tell you to make sure the door is locked." He jumped out of bed and Abbey laid back with a Cheshire-cat grin, watching him curiously as he crossed the room in both directions. "What are you doing?"

"Stand up."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to tear your dress and I'm afraid I will if I don't get you out of that thing right now." He raised his brow and winked at her and within seconds, she was on her feet.

Turning her around, he unzipped the sexy black number she had worn that evening. As it slipped effortlessly over the gorgeous curves of her body, Jed was instantly mesmerized. She stepped out of her shoes and he helped her with her hose, two pairs of hands gliding them down her legs until she stood before him completely nude.

Abbey moved closer. Her finger twirled around the top button of his shirt. She didn't even wait to tear it open. They got rid of his pants next, but before he was out of his boxers, he urged her onto the bed. His strong, masculine hands then rubbed her shoulders, pressing deeper into her flesh when she moaned in pleasure. His mouth open, she felt his breath tickle her neck as he straddled her back and leaned forward.

"Hon?" she called out in a whisper, laying on her belly.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me this isn't your way of keeping me quiet."

Still on top of her back, Jed dipped his head to the side so he could see her face. "This is my way of showing you that you're just so beautiful, I can't help myself. If you wanna interrogate me some more later, go for it, but right now, I want to make love to you."

His statement alone sent a tingle up her spine. She gave him a quick kiss, then looked straight ahead, resting her chin on the back of her hand. "Okay. We'll do your thing first."

He reached down to pinch her rear. "Don't cheapen it."

"Ow!" Abbey chuckled. "Every good turn deserves another, Babe."

"I'm counting on it, Sweet Knees."

It took hardly any time for all the lingering questions Abbey had to fade softly out of her mind as she squirmed beneath him. His massage alone was enough to force her to surrender her curiosity, but when he bent forward to gently nibble on that sensuous little spot just below her ear, she completely unraveled.

Maybe it was the wine with dinner or the late night cruise that spurred her desire. Or maybe it was just that she enjoyed the flirtatious banter with Jed so much that her body was craving his touch. She wouldn't admit it to him, but there was a small part of her that thrived on the way he teased her as playfully as he had tonight. It reinforced his love for her and to Abbey, these romantic overtures were enough to make her as cooperative as putty in his hands.

She felt him dismount and move beside her. The featherlight tip of his nails barely scratched the skin above her spine and her hair fell in cascading waves over his head when he kissed her neck. His fingers wandered over her backside and the tender slope of her rear. Just as beautifully sculpted as the rest of her body, he noted as he urged her to separate her legs.

He sat between her open thighs. One finger grazed her center. He smiled, knowing she was already way ahead of him. She gasped when he cupped her there. One, then two fingers slid into her feminine depths while his thumb caressed her sensitive little nub and the folds of skin that sheltered it.

As she lay writing beneath him, her legs spread out and her fists clawing the sheets and balling them up so tight that her veins were nearly popping out at her wrist, he realized this wouldn't last much longer. He expected his ministrations to just get her started, but she unexpectedly clenched her muscles and bore down on the hand between her thighs. He used his free hand to rid himself of his boxers and with his other hand, he pushed up harder against her, stroking her repeatedly until she quickly reached a shattering climax.

And before she came down from that high, he grabbed her at the hip and flipped her onto her back, replacing the fingers inside her with his throbbing shaft. In one swift motion, he penetrated her while he smothered her with a shower of wet kisses in the soft valley between her breasts. She struggled to catch her breath. His face buried in her skin, Jed tucked his hands under her body and lifted her up to him.

Abbey, who was threading his thick mane of chestnut hair, paused to wrap her legs high around his waist when he lifted his head. She arched herself so fully into his frame and squeezed him so erotically that he couldn't wait another moment. He searched her eyes to be sure she was ready and the instant he saw that she was, he gripped both of her palms in his as he began to thrust deeply inside her.

Afterwards, a breathless Jed collapsed to the side of his wife, still cradling her at the waist and holding her tightly in front of him. Her fingers ran up and down the length of his arm until she yawned a little while later. Jed kissed the back of her head, then pulled the covers up over their bodies.

* * *

The wake-up call came rather early the next morning. Jed's hand snaked around the nightstand as he reached groggily for the phone. It was still dark out, but when he glanced over at the clock, he noticed there was only an hour left before sunrise.

"Abbey?" He shook her gently. "Abbey, wake up, hon."

"Huh? What's going on?"

"You know, for someone who's used to being woken up by a pager when she's on-call, you're an awfully deep sleeper when you want to be."

"We're on vacation. Why are you waking me?"

"We have to go."

"Go where?"

"To breakfast."

It took her a few minutes to sit up and wipe her eyes of the cobwebs. "You're kidding. It's the middle of the night."

"Nah, it just looks much darker because of where we are. It's actually seven in the morning."

"Then why am I so tired?"

"Because we didn't get to sleep until almost two."

"Good. Then let me sleep some more."

"Sorry. It's time to get up." He tugged on her hands to pull her up.

"Jed, I wanna sleep!" She fell back against her pillow.

"Okay, suit yourself. But just so you know, if you go back to sleep, I'm leaving here without you and I won't be back for several hours."

"I'm not a child, Jed. I can deal."

"And when I get back, I won't tell you where I went or what I did."

"I'll get over it."

"Okay."

Her blanket tied securely over her head, she ignored him rummaging around the cabin to get dressed. But inside her little cocoon, she couldn't help but wonder where he could possibly be heading at such an early hour.

She pulled back on the sheets far enough so that her eyes peeked over the hem and she watched him slide into a pair of blue jeans and a green Dartmouth sweatshirt. He also put on his wool overcoat and a pair of black leather gloves, making her think that wherever he was going was obviously not on-board the vessel.

She sat up once again. "Are we docked?"

"Yep."

"Where?"

"Somewhere north of Stockholm."

"Where exactly?"

"Honestly, Abbey, I couldn't tell you exactly where we are, but if you get up and come with me, you'll find out for yourself." He held out a pair of jeans he had packed for her along with her favorite red sweater.

"Jeans don't really go with mink."

"The mink is for tonight. The boots and the jeans are for this morning."

"It just never ends with you, does it?"

"Nope." He patted her rear as she headed into the bathroom.

* * *

"Jed, is it even safe out here?"

Just as the hour winded down and the navy blue sky began to fade into a lighter hue, Jed pulled a reluctant Abbey along a path up the slope of a hill towards an open field. Standing in the center of the icy landing, she covered her mouth with her hand in amazement. In front of her sat the most colorful hot-air balloon she thought she had ever seen.

"Back home, you said you wished we had time to see more of Sweden. This was the best I could do." He observed the way she looked at it, circling around the basket and staring at the envelope above.

"But...Jed..."

"Hold that thought. We're going to miss sunrise if we don't take off now."

"No, wait!" She grabbed his arm and jerked him still when he tried to take her hand. "You're afraid of heights."

"And fire," Jed added as he led her to the balloon's basket. "And let's face it, fire is how this baby flies."

"Yeah, so why are we doing this?"

"Because you're gonna love it."

"Not if you're miserable the whole time."

"I won't be. That's what this is for." Jed held up the picnic basket he had arranged for their in-flight meal. Among an assortment of breakfast pastries, he took out a couple of tall flutes, handing her one and keeping one for himself in hopes of drowning his fears in a chilled glass of orange juice mimosa.

"You're incredible." Abbey shook her head and smiled.

"I think once we're in the air, I'll be fine, but in the meantime, I'll just close my eyes and hold on to you. What do you say?"

"All right. Let's go."

They clinked their glasses and Jed took a long sip of his champagne cocktail, then wrapped his arms around Abbey and nodded to the pilot as soon as they were ready. He tried to talk himself out of it, to reason with his stubborn brain, but as if hypnotized by the sheet of ice that covered the ground, Jed's eyes were drawn to the launch pad as they lifted up into the air.

Abbey felt him tighten his grip and she turned in his hold, leveling his mouth to hers so she could distract him with a fast and furious liplock erupting with sensuous passion and lasting until after the first glimmer of sunlight broke over the horizon. And even then, she refused to allow him to look into the envelope, for that's where he'd see a ball of fire burning into the balloon.

His instructions were clear - look straight out into the open air. Don't look up, don't look down. It wasn't his daredevil personality that stopped him from remaining loyal to her orders, it was simply a shot of reverse psychology.

It didn't last long though. Soon, Jed relaxed against the wicker railing as he and Abbey became helplessly enraptured by the lush Swedish countryside coming to life under a radiant glow of red, orange, and amber streaks.

"Look at that mansion right there." Always the navigator, Jed pointed out landmarks that Abbey would have otherwise missed.

"Wow, it's huge!"

"Not counting all the castles and royal palaces, I bet it's the biggest private residence in the country. I'll tell you a secret."

"What's that?"

"That's where we're having dinner tonight."

"Whose house is that?" she quizzed him.

"You'll find out tonight."

"What happens tonight?"

"We're having dinner there."

Disappointed, Abbey smacked his shoulder. "Why do you do that?"

He laughed. "Because you love it."

If he only knew how right he was. If he only knew how much she liked the way he set up this excursion, dropping clues that would fuel her curiosity throughout the day. Though she was frustrated at not having all the answers, she relished watching him prance around, his face beaming with subtle expressions of triumph as if she'd never reclaim the upper hand.

She treasured the trouble he went to, not only to dazzle her with surprises, but to give her just enough information to keep her asking a barrage of questions, for she realized long ago that Jed knew that despite her staunch protests, piecing together the mystery made the experience that much more enjoyable.

He knew that because he knew her. Just as she told him the night before, she knew his heart. But what she left out was that he knew hers too.

This was the man she loved from the innermost depths of her soul. She adored his elegance and his class, the fact that he was extravagant enough to take her to a five-star French restaurant, a midnight cruise along the coast of Sweden, and a hot-air balloon ride over the charming hamlets of the snowy countryside, yet unpredictable enough to book a 1930s steamboat rather the cruise liner she expected.

It was typical Jed.

And as Abbey rested her head on his shoulder, she tucked her hand under his coat and coiled it around his waist so she could feel as close as possible to this sweet, caring, thoughtful man beside her for the rest of their four-hour journey high above the ground.

TBC


	32. Chapter 32

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 32

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed had a few surprises in store for Abbey, including a midnight cruise up the coast of Sweden and a hot-air balloon ride at sunrise

Summary: Abbey realizes how much she'll miss Jed if he wins his election; Liz sees an ugly side of her Uncle Jack

Author's Note: Though they're not all that relevant to the chapter, here's a list of who the characters who are mentioned actually are. Most were brought up in other stories in this series and many are characters who have been mentioned on the show.

Adults:

Kate - Abbey's sister

Bob - Kate's husband

Jack (for new readers) - Jed's brother (his actual name is John, like on the show, but we gave him the nickname Jack)

Kellie - Jack's wife

Kids:

Mallory - 8 1/2 years old (Leo and Jenny's Mallory)

Chloe - 10 years old - Millie's daughter (fyi, on the show, her name is Cleo, but a mistake on my part led to naming her Chloe several stories ago, so that's what her name remains in this series)

Tommy - 2 years old - Millie's son

Bobby - 11 years old - Kate's son

Max - 9 years old - Kate's son

Brad - 10 years old - Jack's son

* * *

After the hot-air balloon ride high above a small village in the Swedish countryside, Jed and Abbey returned to the steamboat for a cocktail luncheon. In honor of Jed's Nobel Prize, the couple was offered first-rate accommodations as they dined at the Captain's table, and later, they cuddled up on the deck outside their cabin and took in the beautiful rainbow of colors that sparkled off the waters of the sea at twilight.

"Are you cold?" he asked when she inhaled deeply.

"No," she said, holding on to his arms which reached out from behind her and protectively crossed at her waist. "I'm just thinking I don't want this day to end."

"I don't either." He held her tighter and whispered, "But we have to go get ready."

"I know."

Jed moved then and held out his hand to her. If he could, he would have extended their excursion. As much as he loved the family and friends who traveled all the way to Europe to watch him receive his award, he treasured this time alone with Abbey. When they originally booked their trip to Sweden, he worried they'd be too busy to enjoy the legendary romance of a Scandinavian vacation, but it was his brother Jack who urged him to find a moment to sneak off with his wife.

The day of the traditional laureate dinner at the prime minister's private residence sounded perfect. They would have had to travel up the coast anyway and since he assumed the other laureates hadn't planned a morning of ballooning in the area, he was fairly confident they'd have a somewhat private cruise, away from the press and the fanfare of being one of the country's most popular visitors.

That evening, Jed sat on the bed in their cabin, leaning forward to slip into his shoes. He was so distracted that he never even noticed Abbey framed in the bathroom doorway until he saw the tip of her heels brush the floor beside him. Slowly, his eyes followed her smooth, silky legs all the way up to the hem of her burgundy velvet dress to the swell of her hips and the narrow curve of her tiny waist.

Before he could look any further, she sat down on his lap and curled her arms around his neck. "I think I forgot something."

"What's that?"

Abbey lifted his chin and kissed him. "To say thank you for last night and today."

"It was my pleasure."

"I can't remember the last time you and I had a chance to just get away by ourselves."

"It's been a while." Years, actually. Her hospital residency hadn't allowed for much time off, so any free time she had was used for family vacations, usually camping out at the national parks with their daughters.

"I missed us. Don't get me wrong, I love all the great things we do with the girls every year, but...you and me...I missed that. It's nice just being able to enjoy each other."

"I feel exactly the same way."

"We won't have many days like this, will we? Just as I'm finishing my fellowship, we're making plans for you to move to Washington." She lowered her head sadly.

"Hey." Her reaction surprised him. "Look at me."

"That came out whiny, didn't it?"

"Abbey, honey, I thought you wanted me to run."

"I do. It's just that today, it hit me. I realized what it all means."

"It means if I win - and that's a huge if - but if I win, I'll be moving to Washington. Are you okay with that? Tell me the truth because if you're not, there's still time to reconsider."

It melted her heart how much he cared about her feelings. "No, Jed. I meant it when I said I want you to run."

"You're sure?"

"Of course I am."

"Then what is this all about?"

It was difficult to explain without giving him the impression that she wasn't behind him one-hundred percent. She wanted this for him with every fiber of her being, but today she had him all to herself and she remembered how good that used to feel. For fifteen years, they worked so hard to establish themselves and a part of her had always held on to a ray of optimism that once they had, they could enjoy the success together.

But now that they had both risen to the top of their professions - he as a Nobel Laureate and she as a soon-to-be attending physician, board-certified in thoracic surgery - there was still much more to do and many more sacrifices coming their way. She just needed time to get used to that.

"Abbey?" Jed called out to her again.

"I know it sounds somewhat silly. We're sitting here as grown adults and I'm telling you this, but...I am so incredibly proud of you." Jed chuckled softly, but Abbey held him tight and looked right into his eyes. "I'm serious. You have amazing ideas and the intellect and passion to follow them through. It's no wonder the prize committee selected you. It's no wonder the House democrats want you. None of that surprises me."

"You're feeling pretty sentimental tonight."

"I guess I'm just reminiscing."

"About us?"

She nodded. "About our life together, the road we took to get here."

"It's been an incredible journey."

"It has. And it's far from over. This is the Nobel Prize, Jed. It's a stepping-stone to anything you want."

He cupped her chin with his palm. "The only thing I want - I mean really want - is you by my side, always."

"You got it."

Abbey kissed him a soft kiss, one that led to another and then another, her mouth making its way down his face and into his neck as she repositioned herself in such a way that she was straddling him. He held her by her hips and arched his head, surrendering himself almost entirely to the passion she stirred within him until he glanced at the clock and snapped back into reality.

"Abbey."

"Hmm?" She unbuttoned one button of his shirt.

"Sweetheart, as much as I want to do this," he mumbled. "Honey, we can't."

"Why not?"

"We have to be there on time."

Abbey paused. She straightened his collar and wiped the lipstick off his face and neck. "You're right. We can't keep the Prime Minister waiting."

Just as quickly as Jed realized what she said, she covered her mouth with her hand. "How did you know?"

"I didn't." She stood up. "Let's go."

He followed her. "Oh no you don't. Tell me what you know about tonight."

The side of her lips curving slightly, Abbey gave him only the hint of a smile. "When you were taking a shower, I talked to a few of the other passengers. They told me that we just happen to be in the hometown of Prime Minister Olof Palme and since you pointed out the mansion from the balloon, I put two and two together."

"You weren't supposed to do that." He narrowed his eyes at her. "You were supposed to be completely oblivious to the elegant dinner party we're going to. Or at the very least, you were supposed to feign ignorance until we got there. I was counting on dodging your questions all the way over and now I can't do that."

"My apologies for screwing up your plan. I truly am sorry."

"No you're not."

"No, I'm not." She chuckled. "You've been having fun with me since last night. It's my turn now."

"You have something up your sleeve?"

"Maybe."

"I knew I shouldn't have left you alone."

"You'll think twice next time." Abbey looped her arm through his as they walked out together.

* * *

"How many times did I tell you not to play on the railings? How many times did I tell you to leave the girls alone?"

Jack yanked his son's arm to drag him into the suite as Liz watched with wide-eyed amazement.

She knew the kids had been playing around. The boys had been trying to scare the girls - first, by telling them that the spirits of former Nobel Laureates haunted the Grand Hotel; then, by making up wild tales of cursed stairwells and elevators in the lobby. Ellie, Mallory, and Chloe dismissed those stories, but later, when Max and Bobby claimed someone was out on the balcony of Leo and Jenny's suite, they reluctantly took a peek.

They opened the drapes and saw Brad's face, covered in black plastic, pressed up against the glass. The trio ran out of the room, screaming hysterically. Jack, who heard the ruckus from next door, left to investigate the masked intruder. To his bewilderment, he found Brad trying to escape discovery by climbing over the balcony railing.

Everyone assumed Jack would respond with a lecture or maybe even a laugh about kids being kids, but instead, he rushed Brad back to his own suite in an angry rage no one expected.

Liz had been talking to Kellie, but the two of them jumped to her feet the second they heard the voices looming closeby. Stunned silent by Jack's tone, Liz remained grounded to her spot, unable to move and unwilling to look away.

"You could have killed yourself out there!"

"I was careful!"

"I don't give a damn how careful you were! Why the hell did you get up there?"

"Because I didn't want you to know I was on the balcony," Brad somberly confessed.

"Why?"

"Because I was messing with the girls and I knew you'd be mad."

"So what were you going to do, jump off the building?"

"I thought I could climb from their balcony to ours and come inside before you found out."

"That's ridiculous."

"It is not! I've seen people on TV do it!"

"I don't care if you saw the President of the United States do it, Brad! I've told you a hundred times you do NOT climb those railings!" The ten-year-old tried to walk away. "I'm not finished talking to you!"

In an effort to stop him from leaving, Jack tugged on Brad's arm. Brad fought back, struggling to get free, but as his father grabbed a hold of his sweatshirt to forcefully pull him back to where he was standing moments earlier, he lost his balance and hit the wall.

"JACK!" Kellie shouted as she rushed to Brad's side.

"Brad..." Jack tried to console him. "I didn't mean to..."

"Leave him alone!" Kellie ordered her husband before turning her attention to her son. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah."

"Do me a favor and go wait in the bedroom," Kellie suggested. When he left, she turned to face Jack. "What's the matter with you?"

His breath ragged from losing his temper, Jack paced around himself. "He's out of control."

"No, he's not," she replied. "You're the one who's out of control. He's a little boy."

"That's an excuse?"

"For running around? Yeah, it's an excuse."

"That's not what he was doing. He was purposely taunting the girls and in the process, he could have gotten himself killed. Why aren't you the least bit concerned about that?"

"I am. He shouldn't have done it, but if you want him to listen to you, then you're going to have to use a different approach, because I won't allow you to get physical."

"I was just trying to stop him from walking away."

"You shoved him!"

"I did NOT shove him! I barely even touched him. I was just trying to talk to him and he wasn't listening to me."

"I'm only going to tell you once, Jack. There's something wrong. I don't know what, but you've changed. You never used to lay an angry hand on your son. If you felt he deserved a spanking, it was always after you had calmed yourself down."

"He's been acting up a lot more lately."

"I don't care. He's still a child. You're letting him provoke something inside of you that I've never seen before. It scares me how you react to him. You fly off the handle. You lose control."

"I don't lose control."

"Yes, you do. And it concerns me that you're denying it because I wonder if it's only the beginning. If you don't at least acknowledge it, I'm afraid you're going to morph into the almighty John Bartlet right in front of our eyes."

"What the hell are you talking about? Comparing me to...that's not fair, Kellie."

"What is fair? Me stepping aside while you tear into Brad, pretending I don't notice the way your mother used to do?"

"Don't you dare..." He turned a pair of steely eyes on her, brimming with such hostility that Kellie hesitated for a moment. "Don't drag her into this."

"Fine. Then you tell me how to handle this situation. I know you love Brad and I believe you when you say you don't mean to hurt him, but you're bigger and stronger than he is. A month ago, you slapped him across the face and he fell down on the ground. Tonight, you grabbed him and shoved him...you did shove him, whether you meant to or not, you did. You're lashing out at him physically. I'm worried about you. And I'm worried about him too."

"He tries my patience."

"He's a kid. Deal with it. If you don't, then the older he gets, the more he doesn't follow your rules. the more you're going to turn into your father. I won't stand by and let that happen."

"It's not going to happen. I just grabbed his arm."

"Too hard! You don't know your own strength." She crossed the room, her hand rubbing her forehead. "If you don't do something about this, Jack...if you don't learn to control your temper...I won't allow my son to be raised the way you and Jed were."

"Are you threatening me?"

"You can interpret that however you wish."

Never in her life had Elizabeth Bartlet felt more blessed to have a father like Jed. While he rebelled against John's legacy, Jack had apparently fallen victim to it. She looked on curiously as Jack speechlessly battled his wife's final words, his expression holding no small amount of contempt when she turned her back and walked away from him.

It reminded her of that fateful night when she first learned of Jed's relationship with her grandfather, the night she had been eavesdropping through her bedroom window. Jack's tone tonight was every bit as sharp as John's was that night. His voice, even his hand gestures reeked of similarity.

She turned a watchful eye to her Uncle Jack and when his gaze met hers, she instinctively took a step back. She wasn't certain if her apprehension was fueled by fear or by disgust at the fact that he reminded her of someone she was hoping to forget.

Jack was shocked to see her standing there. "Lizzie."

Liz subtly shook her head. "I'm going to go to bed now if that's okay."

"Elizabeth, let me just explain something to you..."

"You don't have to. It's none of my business."

"This isn't how we normally are. Kellie didn't mean what she said."

"It's okay. Really. My parents are going to be back first thing in the morning?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'm going to go to bed then."

"I'd prefer we talk before you tell your dad what happened tonight."

"I don't really wanna talk. I just wanna go to bed. I can stay with Uncle Leo or my Aunt Kate if that'll make things easier here."

"You don't have to go." He could see her trepidation. "I'm not like that, Lizzie. Lashing out physically - that's not me. I can't believe Kellie even said it. You know me. You've known me your whole life. We haven't seen each other as much as some families, but you've spent enough time with me to know I don't usually blow up like that." She didn't answer. "Right?"

"I guess."

"Kellie was upset. She had a right to be because I was wrong, but she didn't mean what she said, especially the part about your grandfather. My dad may not have been a saint, but he was a disciplinarian. What she said was a little harsh, don't you think?"

Turning away, Liz avoided telling him that she knew the truth about John Bartlet. "I don't wanna be in the middle."

"I'm not making you choose sides, for crying out loud!" He walked around her to force her to look at him. "I just want to know if you agree!"

Lizzie didn't know how to respond to his outburst. While she had seen her own parents lose their tempers from time to time, it was never like this. She loved and respected this man standing before her, but she had witnessed an ugly side of him tonight and in the back of her young mind, she couldn't help but draw upon the resentment she had for her grandfather. Justified or not, she was frightened.

"I don't know," she said, her voice breaking ever so slightly. "Can I just go to Leo and Jenny's? I wanna check on Ellie to make sure she's not still scared."

Jack moved out of Liz's way. "I didn't mean to upset you, Lizzie. If you'd be more comfortable sleeping somewhere else, I'll help you move your stuff. But I know you and Kellie were planning to stay up all night and watch movies like you did last night. If you still want to do that, you can. I'll stay out of your way."

"I think I'd rather stay with my sister."

Jack nodded. "Just one more thing, okay? I admit I shouldn't have reacted the way I did tonight. I lose my cool sometimes, but this won't happen again. It was an isolated incident."

He meant that with all his heart. If only it was that easy. There was a war brewing inside Jack and as he fought to reclaim the peaceful man he knew he could be, he, too, wondered if he was headed down the same troubled path his own father had taken.

There was a kind of torment present in his eyes. Elizabeth saw it swimming in a shallow of layer of tears that never made it past his lashes. It was clearly defined, his remorse, and had it not been for the disturbing glimpse she got into John Bartlet's world, she may have believed him. But she couldn't, not as long as she knew that her grandfather's menacing influence had poisoned yet another generation.

TBC


	33. Chapter 33

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 33

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jack lost his temper with Brad which led to an explosive argument in front of Liz

Summary: Jed and Jack try to bury the hatchet and help each other deal with their troubled childhood

* * *

"Son of a b --"

Of the many customs during Nobel week in Stockholm, there's one that irritates laureates more than any other - those dreaded patent leather shoes they're required to wear for the ceremony.

Jed, like his peers, had managed to find a pair before arriving in Sweden, but he had tucked them away in his suitcase and ignored Abbey's reminders to scuff the bottoms. So now, on the morning of the rehearsal, he sat alone in the courtyard, his shoe gripped tightly in his hand as he scraped the slippery sole against the concrete.

"Dad?"

He looked up to see Liz towering over him. "These are indestructible shoes, Lizzie, made by some neurotic sadist who somehow knew that if I couldn't scuff them up, I would end up doing a header down the grand staircase at the Stockholm City Hall tomorrow night, and fall face-down into the Queen's lap. He knew and he simply didn't care. In fact, he was probably amused by the possibility."

"So you're having problems?" She grinned.

"Wipe the smirk off your face." He continued to work. "Where's your mother?"

"She's still out with Millie, Kellie, and Jenny."

"Good. You need to give me a heads-up when she gets back."

"Why?"

"Because if she sees me out here, she'll lecture me about procrastination and that's the last thing I want - or need - right now."

"Why are you doing it in the courtyard anyway?"

"Because the press is lining the sidewalk just looking for a shot like this. A few months ago, I could have been mauled by a pack of wild dogs back home and I'd barely get a mention on the news. Here, if a drop of tomato sauce dribbles off my pasta, the Swedes break in with special programming."

Laughing, Lizzie admitted he was probably right. "Why bother scuffing them up though? What would happen if you wore them as they are to the rehearsal and just walked really slowly?"

"I'd probably slip and slide until I fell flat on my ass in front of a crowd of cameras."

"That's not good."

Jed glared up at her. "No, it's not."

"What if they're not ready to wear by the time you have to leave?"

"One problem at a time. Hopefully, by tonight, they'll be ready to go."

"Here, I'll help you." Liz sat down beside him and picked up the other shoe.

"You don't have something else you'd rather be doing?" She shook her head. "Okay, what's up?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure there are a billion places you still want to see around town and instead of going out with your mother or begging me to let you go by yourself, you're sitting here on a beautiful Saturday afternoon scuffing up my shoes, so something has to be up. What's up?"

She had come looking for him, prepared to tell him all about the disturbing scene she witnessed with her Uncle Jack the night before. But when she opened her mouth to answer his question, she hesitated. "Nothing," she said instead. "I just don't want you to fall."

Jed didn't buy it. "Oh, I get it." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You want to ask about Sven. You're buttering me up."

Liz chuckled. "Not really. But since you brought it up..."

"Uh huh."

"His parents are always invited to the awards ceremony so he'll be there tomorrow night. Afterwards, when you and Mom go to the ball, there's a dance in one of the adjoining rooms. It's for teens only and it lasts till 11. It's chaperoned and everything." She paused to let him absorb the information and quietly, she asked, "So, I was wondering if I can go."

"I don't know, Lizzie. Inviting him to the theater with us was one thing, but..."

"We'll be right next door to you guys. You can check on us any time you want."

"I don't know. Let me think about it."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Jed curiously questioned. It wasn't like Liz to stop campaigning for something she obviously wanted badly.

"Yeah. Just think about it and let me know."

"You're not going to try to sell me on all the finer points of letting you go?"

"No."

"Or tell me how unreasonable I would be if I said no?"

"No."

He dropped his shoe and stared directly at her. "Spill it."

"What?"

"Do you not want to go out with Sven?"

"I do, but I know you're just looking out for me so I won't push."

Jed knew better. Tomorrow night, Liz had the option of attending a formal dance as part of the Nobel festivities, or being ushered back to the hotel with kids half her age. Giving up so easily just didn't sound like her. "Elizabeth, you're worrying me. Tell me what's on your mind."

In a way, she was grateful that Jed had the ability to always see right through her. It made her choices clearer, her moral dilemmas simpler. "I don't know if I should tell you this. It seemed like he didn't want me to tell you and I don't want him to be mad at me."

"Who? Sven?" She shook her head again. "If you even have to think about it, then I definitely want to know."

She curled her lips together and took a breath. "What's the matter with Uncle Jack?"

* * *

After searching the rest of the hotel, Jed headed to the restaurant in the lobby where he spotted Jack sitting at the bar. When he moved a little closer, he saw the glass of bourbon in front of him, his finger circling the rim.

Jed scolded himself silently. He should have known something was wrong, he thought. He had seen Kellie's discomfort at breakfast that morning. Her abrupt tone when she told them that Jack was sleeping in should have raised a flag or two. Jack never slept in, especially if it meant missing his favorite meal of the day.

Even as kids, Jack was usually the first one up, the first one at the breakfast table, eager to begin a new day while Jed preferred to soak up every last second of sleep until his father's infamous bellow forced him out of bed.

It surprised him that he remembered that about his childhood. Like a quick flash of light in his mind, that memory just hovered there for a minute and as it faded, Jed cautiously approached, sliding in on the stool next to Jack. "Isn't it a little early for that?"

"I'm not trying to drown my sorrows, Jed. Don't worry." Jack took a sip of the bourbon. "I just need to unwind a little."

"That'll certainly do the trick."

"Don't you have to get ready for the rehearsal?"

"In a minute." Jed motioned the bartender for a beer. "I wanted to touch base with you first."

"You talked to Elizabeth."

"Yeah."

"Tell her I'm sorry for last night. I don't know what happened."

"Apparently, you got angry. Brad could have killed himself out there. And for what? Just to try to frighten the girls."

"It's like he always does exactly what I tell him not to do."

"Kids are like that. And as parents, our first instinct is to respond out of anger. If Ellie had been the one climbing the balcony railing, I would have been livid."

Amazed at Jed's calm, even friendly tone, Jack turned to his brother. "Are you excusing what I did or have I just had too much to drink?"

Jed shrugged. "Do you really want me to excuse what you did?"

"Are you?"

"No," he answered. "All I'm saying is that I think you had every reason to be angry. Your reaction...the way you lashed out at Brad...that's a different matter entirely."

"You never disappoint, Jed." Jack's snarkiness seeped through the muffled response.

Jed ignored it. "Kellie's worried about your temper, isn't she?"

"She'd like to take Brad and leave." Jack let out a long, deep breath. "And part of me doesn't even want to stop her. Is that the worst thing you've ever heard?"

"If I was afraid I'd hurt one of my girls, I'd want Abbey to take them away from me too." Jed knew he hit the nail on the head when he was instantly confronted by Jack's steely expression, first angry and hostile, then crumpling into a stare of confusion.

And finally, Jack relented. Sort of. "That's what you think this is about."

"I'm just saying if I had done what you did, it might scare me a little." Jed lowered his voice and said, "It's okay to admit it, you know."

"I grabbed his shirt. I didn't strike him. I didn't push him. I grabbed his shirt too tight and he lost his balance. That's all."

"No one's accusing you of child abuse."

"Then what are you getting at?"

"I think you need help. I'm no expert, but I think you have an anger problem, especially when it comes to Brad. I know you love him. I've seen how you interact with him all week. There's no doubt in my mind you adore that little boy."

"I do." Optimistic that Jed could see the genuine affection he had for his son, those two little words were spoken softly.

"But when he makes you mad, you blow up. You lose your temper and something goes terribly wrong."

"It's only been like this the past few months. Before that, everything was fine."

To Jed, the trigger was obvious - their father's death. He paused briefly to gather his thoughts and chart his next step. He turned in his seat then, addressing Jack with compassion brimming his sapphire orbs. "Hey, why don't you, Kellie, and Brad come to the farm for Christmas?"

"The farm?" Jack echoed him, surprised at the sudden change of direction.

"Yeah, why not? Every year, the girls and I string up the lights together. I'm sure Brad would love to help out. We'll cook dinner, bake a few pies, sing a few carols in front of the fire place, and have a cozy tree-trimming party, just the family."

"As if we just stepped out of a greeting card?" he scoffed. "That's not exactly our family."

"You're quite the skeptic, my friend," Jed replied. "We grew up together. How is that you're such a pessimist when I'm such an optimist?"

"I got the defective Bartlet gene? Or maybe I just know better than to expect happily-ever-afters."

"Okay so Christmas might not be as ideal as I want it to be, but it'll be fun. And it'll give us a chance to talk about some things."

"What things?" Jed didn't have to elaborate. The sigh he gave was more than enough for Jack to understand. "Oh."

"Abbey gave me this memory book after he died. You know, in case I wanted to jot some things down about him so I could remember him later. I was a little upset when she gave it to me because...well, you just don't give those things to people who want to forget their past. Those books are reserved for loved ones who have sweet memories they want to cherish, not for me. I mean, I'm constantly doing my best to forget my life before college, so why in the world would she give me this thing, I wondered. But then it occurred it to me that what she wanted was for me to work through all that...all the bad stuff. She thinks it's the only way to really move on."

"What do you think?"

"I think it's wise not to argue with my wife, especially when she's right."

"This isn't about Dad, Jed."

Just because he said it didn't make it true. Jed certainly didn't believe it. After all, he was the only other person who knew what went on in their home. The anger and the screaming, the fights and the hitting. It wasn't something he could easily sweep aside and he had no doubt that after all these years, it still haunted Jack as much as it haunted him.

"I grew up in that house too, Jack. Who are you kidding?"

"What could his death possibly have to do with what's going on in my life?"

"I don't know. I'm not a shrink."

"No, you're not. So don't try to psychoanalyze me, all right?"

"I just thought it might help to talk about him."

"Do you talk about him?"

"Sometimes." Jack shot him a doubtful glare. "Okay, only when Abbey forces me."

"That's what I thought."

"But that's only because as hard as she tries - and she does try for my sake, she really does - but as hard as she tries, she doesn't understand. She didn't live with him. We did."

"A million years ago."

"It never goes away. I would say that you'd be surprised how many times I've remembered something about Dad at the strangest moments, but I suspect you've experienced it yourself."

"I try not to do that."

"Sometimes I think he was just an angry man who didn't know how to deal with that anger. Other times, I think he was just a bastard. Even so, I find myself defending him, even to my family. I make excuses to Abbey all the time. I even made excuses for him to Lizzie once."

"She knows?"

Jed nodded. "She overheard one of Dad's finest moments last year."

"No wonder I scared her last night."

"After his death, she and I talked about it without really talking about it, you know? I think that's because as much as I hate him, I can't stand the thought of anyone else hating him."

"Why?"

Again, Jed shrugged. "Loyalty maybe? I really don't know."

"I meant to ask you at the funeral, but I didn't want to start anything."

"Go ahead. Ask me now."

"Why didn't you give the eulogy? He would have wanted you to."

"I'm not sure about that." Jed immediately dismissed the notion. "After all, when he was on his death bed, I'm not the one he called."

Jack took another sip of his bourbon. "I should have known you'd hold that against me."

"I thought I was finished with him. I shut him out of my life for good. Then he got sick and I tried to help him. We took him to the best cardiologist in the state. I stayed with him in the hospital for as long as I could after his angioplasty. In fact, you know where I was on my fifteenth wedding anniversary?"

"Where?"

"I was at the hospital...with him. Abbey's parents threw us this big party. We had dinner reservations, everything. And we missed part of it because Dad had some kind of complication after his procedure and I didn't want him to be alone in the hospital."

"Abbey must have been pissed."

"Believe it or not, she understood. We missed our reservations, so she brought dinner to the hospital and we ate in the lounge. Afterwards, I said goodbye to Dad and we went to the party. But the point is, I put him first. Whenever he needed me, I always put him first. Not that it mattered in the end."

"The man had a stroke, Jed."

"And he called you. He was dying and he called you to say goodbye, to tie up loose ends. I'm not being petty here. I'm not saying he loved you more. What I'm saying is he knew he was going to die and he treated me just like he always had. I tried so hard to change our relationship and in the end, no matter what I did, it wasn't good enough to earn a phone call."

"You wanted to make amends before he died."

"It would have been nice. There was a lot I had to say and to be honest, there were things I wanted to hear. I didn't get to because he never gave me that chance. Maybe if he had, there would have been some hope for closure."

"So I guess it's a good thing you didn't give the eulogy?"

"He wouldn't have wanted me to," Jed said sadly. "Because at that point in time, even I don't know what I would have said."

"And now?" Jack asked. "What would you say now?"

"I still don't know. That's why I haven't opened the memory book yet."

"So you want me there to help you remember all this hate you've stored away?"

"I want you there because I think we need each other." And that was the truth of the matter. It had taken a long time for Jed to do it, but he was finally ready to reach out to his brother. "You can be mad at me until the end of time for getting out of that house..."

"Forget that, okay? Anyway, I wasn't mad that you left."

"I know. It was that I left and didn't look back. I ignored your letters and phone calls, Jack, because it was the only way I could get away. I mean really get away." Sincerity pouring out of every syllable, he said, "I was wrong."

Jack took a few seconds before responding. "Well...I can't say I expected that."

"I'm full of surprises." Jed gave him a small smile.

"That you are."

"And so are you."

"How so?"

"You didn't get your closure either, but I never would have guessed that his death would have unleashed this side of you."

"Just when I think we've moved past the sniping..."

"I'm not sniping. I'm concerned about you."

"I'm not like our father, Jed. His problem wasn't anger. It was jealousy and resentment. Surely you knew that. All those times he went after you, it was because you were smart and accomplished, even as a kid. You were popular among your classmates, adored by the teachers, president of your class, an Eagle Scout. You were good at so many different things. And when he looked at you, he saw all the things he wasn't."

"Or maybe he felt I was rubbing it in his face. Maybe on some level, sometimes, I was."

"Is this how you make excuses for him?"

"I guess it is." Caught in his own trap, Jed changed the subject. "Look, in the long run, it doesn't matter why he and I had problems. We just did. And the same goes for you and Brad. The fact of the matter is, the anger Lizzie described to me was familiar, Jack. It was familiar to me and I bet it was to you too. That's why part of you wants Kellie to take him away. You're scared."

"Are you going somewhere with this?"

"I'm trying to convince you to let me help."

Jack lowered his head, a classic gesture of avoidance he had seen in both his father and his brother over the years. He cringed at the thought, but from the time he and Jed were born, John Bartlet dictated their personalities. It was the reason Jed was the kind of father he was to his girls. And with great apprehension, Jack finally had to admit to himself that it was also the reason he was the kind of father he was to Brad.

Jed was right, he acknowledged. If he had any hope of burying the sour influence his father lorded over him from beyond the grave, he'd have to confront the painful memories that lingered in his mind.

"I'm not usually a big talker, Jed. I don't like to share my feelings or participate in therapy exercises."

"Who's asking you to?"

"Isn't that what you want?"

"No. I'm saying I know what you're going through. And you don't have to listen to me, but if you don't, I'm afraid you might just lose your family." Jed waited for a response and when he didn't hear one, he continued. "Come to the farm for Christmas. After the holidays, if you want, I'll go back to Ohio with you."

"What for?"

"In case you decide to see someone to help you control your temper."

"You want to drag me to a shrink?"

"I'm not going to drag you anywhere you don't want to go. I want to work with you, Jack. I want you to believe that I'm not going to turn my back this time. I'm here. I want to help. Let me."

"What if I said I'm not convinced I need your help?"

"I'd call your bluff," Jed replied. "Don't do it for me. Don't do it for you or even for Kellie. Do it for Brad. Ask yourself, don't you wish someone, somewhere, had had this very conversation with Dad when we were little?"

Jack turned away from Jed. He downed the rest of his drink as he pondered his options.

Thirty years ago, everyone in the neighborhood knew the Bartlet boys as energetic, rambunctious children, running around the playground, laughing and joking with their friends. They were polite and precocious, articulate overachievers who always made good grades. They were the ones that all the other parents pointed to as an example for their own kids.

Back then, no one would have guessed that thirty years later, they'd be sitting at a hotel bar, these little boys who were all grown up, as they battled the tension between them to commiserate over the consequences of a turbulent childhood they had kept secret for all this time.

It wasn't an easy thing for him to do, but Jack looked up at the man sitting beside him. With a subtle nod, he accepted Jed's offer.

TBC


	34. Chapter 34

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 34

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed reached out to Jack and offered to help him with his anger problem; the brothers buried the hatchet for good

Summary: Jed accepts the 1982 Nobel Prize for Economics

* * *

"You're like a movie star, Daddy!" Awestruck by the pedestrians who lined the streets between the Grand Hotel and the Stockholm Concert Hall, Ellie pressed her face to the car window to look out at the crowd.

"I feel like we're going to the Academy Awards," Liz added, waving to a passerby who was waving at her.

After Jed learned he had won the Nobel Prize, the girls helped him research the hoopla surrounding the ceremony. They had read about the residents who gathered around town as if they were crowding a parade route. They had seen pictures of Nobel Laureates pounced by microphones and cameras as they arrived to the ceremony. Still, they were unprepared for the glittering spectacle and legendary fanfare that surrounded their father. Lizzie embraced it. Ellie was overwhelmed by it. Zoey slept through it.

"Zoey?" Abbey gently tapped her daughter's shoulder. "Wake up, Sweetie. We're almost there."

The toddler wiped her eyes and grumbled something inaudible, sparking a roar of laughter from Jed. "Come on, Zo. It's time to get up."

As the parade of black limos turned the curvy drive and a flurry of flashing lights blinded the drivers, countless reporters standing outside the concert hall fell into place, ready to share a moment in history with the 1982 Nobel Laureates.

Jed turned to Abbey one last time before the ceremony. "This is it."

"Look for me," she told him as she squeezed his hand.

"Me too, Dad!" Liz exclaimed.

Determined not to be left out, Ellie echoed her sister. "Me too, Daddy!"

And of course, there was Zoey. Still groggy from her nap, she mumbled, "Me too. Me too."

Touched by their enthusiasm, Jed looked each of his daughters squarely in the eye as the limo pulled in behind a ribbon of red velvet ropes. "I will. I'm gonna look for each one of you. I'll see you after the ceremony, okay?"

"Okay. Good luck, Daddy!"

"Yeah, good luck, Dad!"

Seconds later, the limo came to a stop and Jed's door opened, exposing him to the lights of a dozen cameras. The laureates, all men this year, were exquisitely dressed in white ties and tails. They were helped out of their cars one by one, then taken through the doors to the mezzanine floor where attachés from the Swedish Foreign Ministry then directed them towards their escorts.

As the youngest prize winner in a room of physicists, chemists, doctors, and authors, Jed kept control of his anxiety by reciting the alphabet backwards when it was time to take his place at the front of the line. He walked slowly at first, shuffling his feet against the shiny hardwood floor, but only a few steps later, he picked up the pace, the fear of sliding around in those infamous patent leather shoes gone for good.

He closed his eyes and smiled. Later, when the cameras dimmed and the crowd dispersed, leaving them a moment of privacy, he would have to tell Abbey just how grateful he was for her interference that morning.

* * *

"You laugh, but I'm serious," he had told her back at the hotel when she dismissed his concern of picking up the wrong prize during the ceremony. "It's entirely possible they could hand me the wrong medal."

"I'm laughing because you never run out of doomsday scenarios."

"Being prepared, that's what it's called. If I can map out any potential disaster in my head, then I can prevent it from happening."

"Or surrender to it in the way of a self-fulfilling prophecy. You know, I really will have a good time with you if you end up with Yosh Takahashi's medal."

"Don't even joke about that," he growled as he ducked out of the bathroom with shaving foam across his jaw. "The last time the prize committee chose to honor two winners in economics was in 1975 - an American and a Russian. You know what happened?"

"What?"

"They accidentally switched their medals. It took four years of delicate Cold War negotiations to straighten it out." He returned to the sink, unaware that Abbey had taken a metal nail file to the soles of his shoes.

"And the world stopped turning in the meantime."

"You're mocking me."

"Not at all," she insisted. "I'm mocking your paranoia. There's a difference."

"Not much of one. And trying to avoid an international incident on live television is not paranoia. If you think the press is hounding us now, just wait until something like this happens."

"How many cameras have they got set up for tonight anyway?"

"You wouldn't believe it, Abbey. Every square inch of the floor below the stage has been delegated to some media outlet. I nearly fell on my face at the rehearsal. Those lights are blinding."

"And here I thought it would be these blasted patent leather shoes that would be your undoing!" She emphasized her words for affect.

"I want you to know I detect that little bit of unprovoked sarcasm and in the spirit of tonight, I'm choosing to let it pass," Jed replied from the bathroom.

"How very big of you." Abbey set the shoes on the ground. "Get out here and try these on."

Wiping his face with a towel, Jed stepped out and stared down at his shoes. "What did you do?"

"I scratched them up a little."

He picked them up and turned them over. "You also carved them up."

"I didn't carve them up."

"What's that?" He pointed to crescent she had designed with the nail file into the sole of his right shoe.

"It's a crescent."

"It wasn't there before."

"No."

"You carved them up."

"I didn't carve them up. I just carefully outlined five crescents on each shoe. They say that a row of five crescents is a Swedish sign for good luck."

"Who's they?"

"Scandinavian fairies," she snapped. "What do you care? The point is the shoes you were so worried about are now graced with a charm that's sure to keep you standing upright." He chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing. You know I think it's cute when you pull this on the girls, but...this is me. You don't really expect me to believe all this, do you?"

"I'm being perfectly serious, Jed. It really is the Swedish sign for good luck."

"And you've recently found your superstitious side?"

"It never hurts to keep an open mind."

"What have I been saying for all these years? But you...you like to use science to argue superstition." He was clearly unconvinced. "I bet you made this whole thing up."

"Why would I do that?"

"To counteract my doomsday scenarios and get me to think positively about tonight."

"It wouldn't kill you, you know."

"Ah ha! I knew it!"

"Oh, brother."

"You're quite the little trickster, Abigail. How long did it take you to come up with this story - a couple of minutes?"

"Don't be a jackass. The crescents really are a sign of good luck. I didn't make that up."

"And you believe it?"

"I just figured that we could use all the help we could get to make sure tonight goes off without a hitch. Be it folklore, fairy tales, or pixie dust, I really don't care. I just wanted to cover my bases."

"Your bases are well covered and though you couldn't tell from my reaction, I'm grateful - and a little surprised - that you went to the trouble." He grinned as he slipped his feet into the shoes.

"Did you really think I was going to let you go out there and slip and slide all over the stage while everyone laughed at the Nobel Laureate who forgot to scuff up his shoes?"

"I thought you might..." He moved his feet around the carpet. "You know, to teach me a lesson for not

following your advice and doing something about it sooner."

"As tempting as it would have been to teach you a lesson, public humiliation isn't my style, Pumpkin." She watched him pace back and forth to test them. "But you will get a little bit of punishment later...when we're alone."

"I knew that was too easy," he said as he stopped in front of her. "Seriously, Abbey, thank you."

"You're welcome." Abbey opened his hand and pressed a small jade pendant into his palm. "Here. This is my real lucky charm."

"Is this the one I gave you..."

She nodded. "The day I took Step Three of the USMLE. You gave it to me so that if, at any time during the exam I had any doubts whatsoever, I'd know that you were cheering me on in spirit."

"Yeah, but this is different. I can just look out into the audience and see you cheering me on."

"It's symbolic. I became a licensed physician that day and it wasn't just because I passed the boards. It was all those years that you stood by me, supporting me, catering to my needs while I reached for the stars. I want you to keep this pendant with you tonight because I want you to know that I'm ready to do the same."

"You already have." Jed brought her hand to his lips and gently pressed a kiss to each finger.

"All right, stop it. I'm going to smear my make-up crying before we even leave."

"And I thought I was the sentimental one."

"Check with me after the ceremony."

"Hang on." He grabbed her wrist when she turned away. "Nothing's going to go wrong tonight? You really believe that?"

"Listen to me." Her palms on both his cheeks, Abbey framed his face and forced him to look deep into her eyes. "Nothing's going to go wrong tonight. The television cameras aren't going to blind you, you won't get your medal mixed up with someone else's, and you're not going slip in your patent leather shoes. It's going to be a remarkable ceremony and a beautiful banquet and ball. Trust me."

"I do. And I have this pendant to remind me of that."

"That's right. And if you get really nervous, then just look for me."

"In a sea of 2,000 people, how are you going to calm me down?"

"I'll play with my hair and when I do, you'll know that I'm mentally kicking your ass for not paying attention to the ceremony."

"Like anyone will be paying attention to the ceremony. Have I mentioned it'll be ninety minutes, all in Swedish?"

"You'll get through it."

"Not without a distraction of some sort."

"When you see me, picture me whispering in your ear."

"What exactly will you be whispering?"

"Use your imagination." She winked at him.

"That's a dangerous statement, My Love." He arched his brow flirtatiously. "Now you've got me worried about a whole new thing. I look at you and I'm liable to make news for a reason not related to my Nobel Prize."

"You're impossible."

"In fact, just looking at you is such a turn-on, my little snuggle bug, that not taking you is worth considering."

"You think that'll make things easier on you?"

"It definitely could, yes."

She couldn't resist calling him on his bluff. After all, he seemed pretty amused at the moment. "You want me to stay here?"

"Maybe."

"Okay." She untied the satin robe she was wearing to change.

"What are you doing?"

"You said you'd rather I stay. I'm staying."

"Right." Jed played along.

"I'm not joking. I want tonight to be perfect for you and if that means I have to stay here to ensure you shine on that stage, then I'll stay here."

"The sacrifices of a devoted wife, right?"

"Absolutely. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you." She rummaged through the drawer for a pair of sweats.

"No really. What are you doing?"

"I just told you. I'm staying here."

"No, I mean, for real." He stood to the side of the dresser.

"It's not a big deal, Jed. It's Nobel night. I'll have the entire hotel to myself. After you leave with the girls, I'll change into my bikini, go up to the hot tub, maybe take a swim in the pool, try out the sauna." Abbey closed the drawer and smiled sweetly at him before she pulled her sweatshirt over her head.

"I don't believe you."

"And it's not like I can't watch the ceremony on television. Just do me a favor and try to look directly in the camera when you accept your prize. I want to feel like I'm there with you."

"Seriously, Abbey. What are you doing?"

"Do you want me to go, Jed?"

He hated it when she played with his emotions. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Do what you want."

"Okay." Abbey laid her pants on the bed as she slid her pantyhose halfway down her thighs.

"Oh no you don't!" He slapped his hand around her wrist to keep her hose just where they were. "You take those things off and you'll get a run in them. Next thing you know, we're walking in a half hour late."

"It would serve you right if we were late."

"You're going."

"Of course I'm going. Don't play these games with me, Darling. I almost always win." She smirked as she pulled her hose back up.

"Yeah, that's because you don't play fair."

"Quit being a poor sport."

Jed picked up his white dress shirt from the closet. "Did you know that some laureates are so nervous before the ceremony that they actually forget their spouses at the hotel?" He caught her skeptical stare. "It's true. The concierge was telling me all about it after the rehearsal last night."

"Well, you don't have to worry about accidentally leaving me behind." She stepped up behind him and squeezed his rear. "Because I'm going to be on your cute little tail up until the moment they whisk you away."

"See, now you're making me want to stay here with you and forget the ceremony entirely." He spun around on her so fast, that she was unable to escape his embrace. Instead, she giggled as she melted into his kiss.

* * *

Thinking about that playful exchange with Abbey relaxed Jed more than a thousand deep breaths. She was the only person in the world who had that affect on him, the only one who could instantly calm his nerves with just glance or a second of banter.

"Dr. Bartlet? Dr. Bartlet?" Jed was so lost in thoughts about his wife that he didn't even hear the uniformed usher calling his name. The man stepped in front of him and called out louder. "Dr. Bartlet?"

Jed shrugged out of his daze. "I'm sorry."

"I wanted to introduce you to your escort," the man said.

A representative from the Bank of Sweden, the institution that sponsored his prize, shook Jed's hand and took his place beside him. The two men walked together while another representative trailed just behind them, at the side of Yosh Takahashi.

The laureates were taken down an antique golden staircase for the customary photograph. When they reached the basement, the two economists exchanged a quick glance and in an isolated moment of civility, they stepped forward - together - to pose for the camera.

It happened so fast that neither had a chance to snipe at the other, for just a minute later, a chorus of trumpets echoed from the Grand Auditorium. Jed knew what that meant. The King had just made his entrance and soon, it would be his turn to share the historic Nobel stage with the honored few who were chosen to receive that coveted gold medal.

He was ready for it, he told himself. He had been preparing for this day ever since that chilly morning back in October when he received the phone call.

He clasped his hands as he curled his lips and waited for the two tall doors to open at the rear of the stage. Finally, the Concert Hall orchestra began to play and the ushers marched them through the glare of a thousand lights mixed with the thunderous sound of applause.

His head held high, Jed made his way towards his seat, standing in front of it to bow in the presence of the King before sitting down. His heart was pounding. His hands were shaking. And just when he tried to catch his breath against those unbearable butterflies in his stomach, he remembered the jade pendant he had slipped into his pocket. He squinted, then, to spot his family.

Two entire rows of people were there to support him. He saw his friends from Dartmouth. His dean was there to represent the college, as were a handful of his colleagues. A few of his fellow legislators in the New Hampshire State House had even made the trip, two democrats and one republican.

He then scanned the next row where Abbey's parents and his sister-in law, Kate, sat with her family. She was leaning over to catch a glimpse of whatever it was Millie was pointing out. Beside Millie's husband and their kids, was Jed's brother Jack and his wife Kellie, their son Brad in between them. On Kellie's right was Leo, then Jenny and Mallory, who sat next to Ellie.

Ellie.

His eyes focused on Ellie for what seemed like minutes. She looked so pretty in the red velvet dress she picked out herself. A spiral nest of blonde curls fell to the middle of her back, the front pinned by a rhinestone barrette at her crown. Even from so far away, Jed could see that familiar twinkle in her pretty teal eyes. She was clapping so hard that he assumed that when she stopped for a second it was because her small hands were probably hurting.

He was right.

Ellie curiously opened her palms, pointing out the redness to Liz. That's when Jed noticed his eldest daughter. Though he had ridden in the same car with her just moments earlier, he couldn't believe the view he was getting now. He had never seen Lizzie looking as grown up as she did on this night. Her black beaded gown shimmered beautifully. Her long brown tresses had been pulled into a fancy ponytail with side-swept bangs and a lock of hair sparkling with a sprinkle of white glitter covered the band. On her face, she wore just enough make-up to accentuate her flawless peaches and cream complexion.

Oh, how he wished Abbey hadn't overruled him when he suggested she wear overalls and pigtails to this thing. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't deny it much longer. His little girl was growing up. Soon, Ellie would follow in her footsteps, then Zoey.

He shrugged at the thought. Little Zoey. There was no way he was ready to think about her dressing up like her big sister. Of course, just because she wasn't yet on the brink of teenage insanity didn't mean Zoey didn't have her own problems tonight.

An amused Jed shook his head when he saw Abbey fighting to stop the three-year-old from standing up in her chair. Fortunately, those black mary janes she was wearing conspired to keep her grounded because as soon as she broke free of her mother's hold and tried to stand, the soles of her shoes slid on the cushion and she plopped right back down on her bottom.

Abbey tended to Zoey's frustration of not being able to see by letting her daughter climb onto her lap. So there she was, the wife of a laureate, dressed in an elegant ball gown with a toddler kicking at her knees. But what truly astonished him is that it didn't even seem to faze her. Even when Zoey started to squirm and twist herself around to get back to her own chair, Abbey calmly held her still.

Her thick auburn mane was wrapped into a French twist and she intentionally swept a fly-away strand with her finger just slow enough to make sure Jed took notice. When he did, she nodded at him, as if giving him her approval once more. Jed returned the gesture, tilting his head and mouthing a subtle 'thank you' from the stage.

As the ceremony began, Abbey's gaze wandered off her husband. She was drawn to the bundles of colorful flowers methodically placed at the front of the hall. A total of 13,000 of them, most imported from Italy. The backdrop came to life under red and cerise carnations, cherry red roses and gerbera, deep purple orchids, and clusters of reddish-purple lilacs. Silver fir and branches of juniper decorated the podium and the edge of the platform.

In the center of it all sat the distinguished group of laureates, flanked on either side by their escorts. Jed was in the front, all decked out and looking as regal and handsome as she'd ever seen him. While some of the other men looked awkward walking in in their white tie and tails, Jed looked to be perfectly comfortable.

It didn't surprise her though. Everything about tonight was perfect for a man who treasured evenings of vintage wines and fine suits, who looked forward to a string of swanky parties highlighting seven days of entertaining radically original ideas and lectures from the greatest minds in the world.

She frequently teased him about his ego, but the truth was, this week, Jed was incredibly humbled by the opportunity to meet these other scholars. Abbey considered them his peers. Jed thought of them as brilliant scientists and often excluded himself when describing to others their impressive resumés.

That didn't surprise her either. For all his talk, there was quite a bit of humility and class that ran deep in Jed's soul. It's what occasionally gave him pause in these situations. Abbey learned that this was the quality that helped him relate to others, no matter where they came from. It proved that Jed Bartlet wasn't spoiled by the benefit of a rich family history and an elite private education, that he was a man who strived for excellence, but he was also a kind and compassionate human being who could slip out from under his ballroom finery and mingle with people from all walks of life.

She adored that about him. That and so many other things. She was proud of him for who he was, she was happy for him for what he had accomplished, but most of all, she was so madly in love with him that nothing in the world could darken that beaming expression that glowed all around her.

Her eyes closed for a beat as she started thinking about the conversation they had had just a few hours earlier back at the hotel. He had asked her a simple favor, one that triggered a memory from a time when things were more complicated and the possibility of a life together seemed almost impossible.

* * *

"Abbey?" Half-dressed, Jed wandered into the suite's master bedroom. "Hon?"

Her back was to him initially and when she heard his footsteps behind her, she turned from the mirror to face him. Jed had been walking towards her, but he stopped mid-stride. So mesmerized by his gorgeous wife, he couldn't move for a few seconds. He eyed her up and down, taking in the color and style of her floor-length midnight blue ball gown.

The skirt was made of flowy chiffon and shaped by a layer of stiffened crinoline underneath. Jed followed the line of the fabric and noted the way it gracefully pulled in around her waist. When he saw it swell again to accommodate her breasts and the subtle bit of cleavage that overflowed the neckline, he quietly gasped. Her arms were strapless and bare. A pair of understated diamond chandeliers hung from her ears and she wore a thin choker made of diamonds and sapphires around her neck.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. "Jed?"

"Sorry, it's just...Sweetheart, you're gonna be the belle of the ball."

"So you like it then?" She pranced towards him.

"You're positively stunning in that shade of blue. I love it."

"You know what I love?"

"What?"

"That after fifteen years, you still think I'm positively stunning in anything." She stole a kiss, then swiped her thumb over his mouth to remove any trace of lipstick. "What was it you wanted?"

"Oh, yeah." Jed held out his arms to give her access to his cufflinks. "I can't do it."

"You're hopeless." Abbey sighed. "A Nobel Laureate who can't even dress himself."

She grilled him each and every time he asked for help with his cufflinks, but he knew that secretly, this was a task she enjoyed. As she fastened them, she noticed the engraving. These cufflinks were special. They were the ones his mother had given him on their wedding day.

Abbey ran her finger over them when she finished. "These were always my favorite too."

"It's like having a little piece of her with me tonight."

"She'd be so proud of you. I know she would." So alluring was her look that he couldn't help but stare. "What?"

"I can't get over how you look."

"You always say that when we get ready for a fancy party."

"It's always true. Every day we're together, you blow me away, Abbey."

Abbey often wondered what she ever did to deserve such a wonderful husband. He didn't just love her. He adored her. "Let me tell you something." She stepped in front of him so their faces were less than an inch apart. "You blow me away too."

"Thanks...for the cufflinks."

"My pleasure. It made me think about the first time I helped you with your cufflinks. Do you remember?"

Jed thought for a moment. "No."

"Of course you do."

"No, I don't. Was it some special occasion?"

"Josiah Bartlet!" Abbey scolded him. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

Just the reaction he expected. He backed away. "I remember things like our first date, our first dance, not a pair of crummy cufflinks."

"They weren't crummy. They were beautiful cufflinks."

"Well, I obviously didn't commit the moment to my memory like you apparently have."

"Damn right I have."

"Tell me about it."

"It was just before Christmas 1966. You had already applied to LSE and you were flying out to meet with the admissions committee. I drove you to the airport that morning."

"That sounds vaguely familiar."

"You changed into your dress shirt at Logan Airport and I asked why you weren't wearing your sweats on the plane so you could change into your good clothes at the hotel. You waited until there was a break in the crowd and then you whispered to me that you've never been able to figure out how to fasten your cufflinks."

"And you helped me?"

"Yes, I helped you. I can't believe you don't remember. I gave you a kiss on the cheek and walked you towards the terminal."

"Actually, it was a kiss on the lips." He had just been tweaking her. There was no way he would ever forget that morning. The night before, they had made love for the very first time and only a few days later, Jed returned from London with an engagement ring.

"Jackass."

"I'll have you know that's the second time you've called me a jackass in under an hour."

"A personal best."

"For you?"

"No," she replied. "For you. I knew you remembered."

"I don't think you knew that at all. In fact, I think you were ready to give me the silent treatment for having forgotten."

"The silent treatment would be wasted on you."

"For the record..." She tried to walk around him, but Jed grabbed her by the waist and pulled her right back to where she was. "I'm a sucker for that story, Sweet Knees. I just pretend to forget because I love the way you tell it."

* * *

LSE was where it all started. Early in his life, Jed had dabbled with the idea of becoming a priest, but then he met Abbey and his plans changed in a flash. Graduating from Notre Dame with a degree in American Studies, he surprised more than a few people when he decided to attend the London School of Economics. That bold decision all those years ago had started him on a journey that eventually led to this.

With Zoey still on her lap, Abbey sat back in her chair as she remembered their days in London, the precious memories they cherished as lovers and best friends, as newlyweds on an adventure. They faced struggles that challenged them as husband and wife and as young parents. There were nights when she wondered if they were going to make it, days when she thought they wouldn't. They nearly lost each other back then, but in the end, they discovered each other all over again.

For four years, they built their lives around his education and as he sat on stage with the King and Queen of Sweden just a few feet away, she was particularly proud that they did.

A quartet of trumpets announced him and Jed rose to his feet. It wasn't just him up on that stage. Abbey lived and died by his every gesture, his every movement. In many ways, she was more nervous than he was. His face marked by emotion, he stood to be addressed by the representative from the Bank of Sweden.

After the man spoke about Jed's lengthy accomplishments and about the research that rendered him worthy of the medal, he asked, "I now have the honor of asking you to accept the Nobel Prize in Economics for 1982 from the hand of His Gracious Majesty, the King"

Traditionally, King Carl Gustaf sat in the first row of the audience in order to leave the stage to the laureates, so Jed started down the stairs towards the Royal Family while silently saying a quick prayer to thank God that he wouldn't have to deliver his acceptance speech until the banquet because he wasn't sure he could string together two words at this very moment.

When he reached the bottom landing, he extended his hand to the King and a nation of a television viewers, along with a room of two-thousand people, watched as Jed received his gold medal. On the front was the portrait of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death inscribed in Latin. On a cartouche at the bottom was the name Josiah Edward Bartlet and the year 1982. Jed accepted the medal - and a monetary award - then took the diploma the King handed him. Encased in a heavy red leather folder, it was beautifully embossed with his name and his prize.

Abbey saw the way the cameras panned the laureates, zooming in on her husband as he joined the ranks of the world's most decorated scholars. Though the moment was being captured for eternity, Jed was seemingly oblivious to the media's presence. She knew he had devoted his attention to the twenty-second remarks the King had prepared for each laureate and though she, too, tried to decipher the Swedish words he spoke, all she recognized was the ending.

"Congratulations, Dr. Bartlet," the King had said to Jed.

From her seat several rows back, Abbey donned a smile amid the unshed tears that pooled in her eyes. And then, she whispered the same.

TBC


	35. Chapter 35

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 35

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Abbey tried to convince Jed that she carved five crescents into the soles of his patent leather shoes as the Swedish sign for good luck; Jed received his Nobel Prize

Summary: Jed and Abbey are off to the Nobel Banquet

* * *

After the ceremony, Abbey navigated her daughters through the crowd around a large pavilion where the laureates had gathered for more group pictures and press interviews. When they spotted Jed, the girls picked up their pace. Abbey and Zoey led the way, holding hands with Liz and Ellie to form a human chain and maneuver their path more quickly. They moved so fast that Jed never even heard them until he unsuspectingly turned around just as Zoey began to run towards him.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

"Hey, Sweetheart!" He bent down and scooped her up into his arms.

"That was really cool, Dad."

"Congratulations, Daddy!"

"All right, let me in here." Abbey bypassed Ellie and Liz to get closer to her husband. "Cool is an understatement."

"Yeah?" He raised one brow.

"Yeah. I've never been more proud of you." Her eyes held his for several seconds in a mutual glance of adoration and respect, a sincere pledge of devotion, and an intimate gaze spilling with desire. It was a look they had perfected over the years, so innocent that even in a room full of people, only they could break the code.

"Can I see the medal, Daddy?"

Jed reluctantly turned from his wife to hand Ellie the red wooden box that contained his medal and when he did, she and Liz traced the delicate rim with their fingers. They were in awe of this prize, such a coveted symbol of recognition inscribed with their father's name. It shined under the domed lamps of the Concert Hall and sparkled on a bed of red satin as cameras flashed above it.

As the girls admired the medal, Abbey admired Jed. Her stare had remained static, undisturbed even when he tended to Ellie. In his white tie and tails, he looked like all the other Nobel Laureates, so poised and professional, regardless of the fact that he was holding a squirming three-year-old in his arms. Only she could see the stagnant tears that glossed his baby blue orbs that night. She took his hand and squeezed his palm, acknowledging without ever speaking a word that she knew his heart was swelling, not from the pride of his own accomplishment, but from the genuine love and support he felt radiating from his wife and daughters.

"Dr. Bartlet?" When the official Nobel photographer called out to him, Liz and Ellie broke the circle they had formed with their mother to let Jed through.

"Yes?"

"How about a shot of all five of you?"

"I was hoping you'd ask!"

Jed accompanied his family towards the white pavilion garnished with strings of white lace and red roses. He set Zoey down on the top step so he could pull on his jacket to soften the kinks. Abbey straightened his tie, running her fingers gently through his hair when she was done.

"It's fine," he mumbled.

"I want it to be better than fine. For this picture, it's gotta be perfect." She dusted his shoulders before she dropped her hands down his chest. "There."

Jed wrapped his arm around her waist then, inviting her to press herself into his frame. Lizzie made her way to Jed's other side and Ellie and Zoey stood just in front of them.

"Can I hold the medal?" Ellie tipped her head back to ask her father that question.

"I wanna hold it!" Zoey protested.

"No, Zo. I asked first."

"Girls..." Abbey interjected.

"I asked first. I should get to hold it."

"Nuh uh!" Zoey argued.

"Uh huh," Ellie replied.

"Nuh uh!"

"Uh huh!"

"All right, knock it off." Jed opened the presentation box and placed it between them so Zoey could hold one end and Ellie the other. "Better?"

Content, Zoey and Ellie nodded as they turned to the camera.

* * *

A little while later, spectators watched as the laureates and their spouses were escorted out the front entrance of the Concert Hall and taken to their individual limos. Ellie and Zoey were picked up at the curb and taken back to the Grand Hotel for a special party held for the children of all the dignitaries, while Liz and Sven strolled along the velvet ropes. Having persuaded her parents to let her attend the Nobel-sponsored teen dance in an adjoining room at City Hall, Liz held Sven's hand all the way to the limo.

Trailing behind the teen couple, Jed kept one eye on them as he helped Abbey with the blue silk wrap that covered her bare arms from the scrutiny of the December cold. "I thought the rule was no touching."

"Leave them alone," Abbey warned him.

"Hey, if she gets to go out with him tonight, I get to have fun with them. That was the deal."

"What deal?"

"The deal I made with myself." Jed smiled triumphantly, climbing into the backseat. The truth was he liked Sven. He respected him for his maturity, secretly praised him for his intellect, and most importantly, applauded him for the way he treated Liz. That didn't mean he didn't enjoy yanking his chain though. "Who's up for a round of trivial pursuit?"

"It's a ten-minute drive, Dad."

"Do you have a game board?" Sven asked.

"There is no game board. When my dad says trivial pursuit, what he really means is he wants to grill you on random trivia."

"Why?"

"For fun."

A parade of headlights illuminated the night as the cars started the short journey through the secured streets of Stockholm towards the City Hall, the site of the Nobel banquet and ball. During the ride, Sven confidently accepted Jed's challenge. Schooled in a myriad of topics from world religion to history to international literature, he proved that though he had hopscotched across Europe in his youth, his education hadn't suffered.

Just as quickly as Jed threw out questions, Sven fired back answers.

"What's the hottest planet in our solar system?"

"Venus."

Jed frowned. "Why not Mercury? It's the closest to the sun."

"Because Mercury has no atmosphere. Venus's atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide so it can welcome heat without letting it escape into space."

He was so sure Sven wouldn't have an explanation that when he did, Jed simply grumbled, "Good guess."

"It was more than a guess, Dad. Sven is very bright." Lizzie smiled at her date, prompting Jed to scan the wealth of knowledge stored in his brain.

"Let's see how much you know about women's suffrage in 1920s America."

"Jed."

Jed acknowledged his wife. "What?"

"Don't."

"He's having fun."

"He's not having fun."

"Of course he's having fun."

"You're the only one having fun," Abbey said as she furiously flipped through the pages of her Swedish-English dictionary.

"That's not true, Cupcake. And if you'd put that away, you'd realize trivia can, in fact, be fun."

"I'm not putting it away. And don't call me Cupcake."

"What is it you're doing anyway?"

"I'm trying to figure out exactly what it was King Gustaf was saying when he presented you with your medal."

"Don't bother. Even I don't know."

"And here I thought you were learning Swedish just for this moment. I can't believe it doesn't bother you that you don't know what he said."

"It does bug me. It'll be the first thing I look for when I look at the tape. But standing before the King, Abbey, I'll tell you, it was incredible. I could barely concentrate on anything but making sure I stepped backwards properly without falling down when he was finished."

"Dad, how come they had you walking backwards after you got your prize?" Lizzie asked.

"It's to show respect. You don't turn your back on the King."

"Dr. Bartlet, you were one of the most graceful laureates I've ever seen."

Jed smiled at Sven and in a playful voice, he teased the boy. "I already said my daughter can go to the dance with you. There's no need to suck up."

"But I haven't asked if I can take her out for dessert yet," Sven teased back.

His grin now fading into a more serious expression, Jed shook his head. "Don't push your luck."

* * *

The long line of limos finally arrived at a path lit by torches in the hands of Swedish Boy Scouts. The scouts greeted each laureate on the way to a private entrance above the Blue Room of the Stockholm City Hall. There, those who would be sitting at the Royal Table were assembled and prepared to meet the King and Queen.

Jed slowly paced in small steps beside Abbey. His hands stuffed in his pockets, he noticed her staring at him. "What?"

"Are you nervous?"

"No. I'm just going over my acceptance speech in my head."

"What else?"

"I'm wondering what Liz and Sven are up to."

"We just got here, Jed. They probably haven't even taken off their coats. Besides, you already appointed Alexander your spy for the evening."

"Chaperone, Abbey. Not spy. Young girls should always have chaperones."

"So you've said." She looked at him and asked, "You think Ellie and Zoey are having a good time?"

"Are you kidding? Ellie couldn't wait for tonight, and anything she's excited about gets Zoey excited. I think they're going to have more fun than we are."

"I just hope they're not bored."

"They would be a lot more bored at the banquet. That's why no one brings their kids."

"I know, but Zoey's at that age. She's going to miss us."

"Not with Ellie there. They were looking forward to having their own party somewhere where they can eat pizza and chow down on hamburgers and french fries with their fingers instead of having to worry about which fork to use for the appetizers before the marinated reindeer arrives."

"There's no way Ellie would eat reindeer."

"She'd protest if she knew we were eating it." He laughed at the thought. "We'll call them after dinner."

"I should have known."

"What?"

"You were planning to call them all along, weren't you? You were thinking about them just as much as I was."

"I just want to make sure they're not getting into any mischief."

"You want to make sure they're being spoiled rotten."

He shrugged. "It's a special night."

"Yes, it is," Abbey said simply.

As she returned his smile once again, King Carl Gustaf XVI and his wife, Queen Sylvia entered the room amid their security detail. The King shook the hand of each laureate and his companion, then took his place at the front of procession.

"Ready?" Jed asked Abbey when the music began to play.

"To accompany the most handsome laureate in the joint? I've been ready for this for quite a while."

Abbey ruffled her ball gown to keep it from dragging under her feet, then tucked her hand into the crook of her husband's arm so they could begin to descent the dazzling three-flight marble staircase overlooking a sea of more than 1,300 guests applauding at their arrival. Allegro Maestoso from Mozart's Serenade No. 7, the "Haffner," played throughout the building and in the Blue Room, where a rectangular table large enough to accommodate 120 people sat in the center of smaller tables all trimmed with gold and silver tableware on top of champagne tablecloths that shimmered under the glow of a hundred chandeliers, Jed surveyed the crowd for their friends and family.

He made direct eye contact with Leo before he hit the middle landing and with a nod to his friend, he assured him that his fear of slipping in his patent leather shoes was a distant memory now.

"By the way," he whispered to Abbey. "A row of crescents means good luck. True or false?"

"I thought you didn't believe in superstitions," she whispered back.

"It has nothing to do with the superstition. I just want to know if you lied to me." She replied with a wink. "I knew it!"

"I had a good reason."

"Of course you did...Cupcake."

Annoyed at the nickname he couldn't quite give up, Abbey tightened her arm around his as the Bartlets reached the bottom platform. That's where they separated. On the arm of Prince William of Denmark, Abbey continued the rest of the way to the Royal Table, which stretched from the back of the hall down a narrow aisle towards the stage, while Jed was greeted by 18-year-old Princess Nikolina, his official escort to the banquet.

"Doctor Josiah Bartlet. It's an honor to meet you."

"The honor is all mine, Your Royal Highness," Jed said, a little surprised by the air of confidence and grace that surrounded such a young woman.

They walked with ease to their seats. Smoothly. Elegantly. Just slow enough for the cameras to chronicle every step. The Princess took her seat first and when Jed pushed in her chair, he sat next to her in the chair directly across from his wife. Prince William was seated to Abbey's right and Countess Cristina sat to her left.

As Abbey juggled two separate conversations about world affairs over a course of baked Baltic herring appetizers, on the other side of the table, Jed realized just how skillfully Princess Nikolina used her charm.

"So will you do it, Dr. Bartlet?"

"You want me to persuade your parents - the King and Queen of Norway - to let you attend school in America?"

"Yeah. Nobel Prize winners are the smartest men and women in the world! They think you're a genius. They would want me to study under you."

"Okay, okay. No need to pile on the flattery." Jed bowed his head to hide the rosy flush that colored his cheeks.

"It's all true. They even went to your lecture the day before yesterday and haven't stopped talking about you since."

"I don't know what to say."

"Say you'll do it! Please! I really want to study in Boston."

"I think that would be..." When her words sunk in, he corrected her. "Wait, I don't teach in Boston. I teach in New Hampshire.

"Is that close to Boston?"

"Yes."

"Really close?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll study in New Hampshire."

"Why did you think I taught in Boston?"

"I dunno. But if you're close to Boston, I guess that'll be okay."

"You know, I get the feeling you're more excited about something other than going away to school. What's going on?"

"Okay, but shhh." She leaned to quietly say, "My boyfriend...he's an exchange student from America and his family is in Boston."

"And you want to go to Boston so you can be with him."

She gave him a bashful grin. "Will you talk to my parents?"

Thinking about their own daughters and Jed's overprotective nature, Abbey snickered at his predicament. The father in him railed against this favor, but the laureate in him found it difficult to reject the Princess's plea. His only reaction was to throw his wife an unamused glare, one that made her laugh just a little harder.

* * *

Following a meal of thyme-marinated reindeer in port wine sauce for dinner and coffee-chocolate cream served with the official Nobel parfait for dessert, the laureates each took the podium. While most made remarks about the research that brought them to Stockholm, Jed chose a different path. His speech was personal.

"Your Royal Highness, Your Majesties, Your Excellencies, Members of the Swedish Academy, Ladies and Gentlemen...over the past few months, I've been thinking a lot about the Nobel Prize and about whether or not my research was truly worthy of such an honor. At first, I didn't believe it was, but hey, you've convinced me..."

He paused briefly and when he spoke again, his voice held a more serious edge.

"I do believe in my heart of hearts that even the simplest economic policies can give birth to political freedom. Nations that are struggling now can find the formula for a prosperous future and we should help them do that because as I tell my students, we never know how the pendulum will swing. The countries that need our help today may be the countries that help us tomorrow. Now I could spend the next few minutes trying to convince you of this, but something tells me that's probably not what you want to listen to tonight."

The crowd chuckled in agreement.

"So instead, if you'll give me the time, I'd like to share a story about something that happened the day I found out I had been chosen to receive this award. See, in my house, my wife and I ask our kids to bring a current events item to the dinner table every night for discussion. Back in October when the announcement of this year's Nobel Laureates made the papers, my daughter Ellie decided to report on the winners. We talked about the theories and discoveries of the laureates, about what it was that caught the attention of the prize committee, and afterwards, she asked me about Alfred Nobel. She wanted to know why he pledged his wealth to celebrating achievements in science, literature, and economics. I only knew a little about Dr. Nobel at that time and so I told her what I knew - that he spoke of his goal to promote ideas...and if, out of a thousand ideas, only one turned out to be good, he'd say he was satisfied. I've learned a lot more about Dr. Nobel since then, but no matter what I know now, the fact I treasure the most about his legacy is the fact I shared with Ellie - his philosophy and commitment to ideas. As I look around at my fellow laureates, that's exactly what I see. They had brilliant ideas they put to the test. They took risks in their theories and they transformed those ideas into remarkable discoveries and essays and writings that will indeed lead to the betterment of humanity. That's what this award is all about and for that reason, I'm incredibly honored and unbelievably humbled to be standing among them this evening."

Abbey's soft clap led a round of roaring applause.

"Before the sound techs cut my mic, I just have to wrap it up by thanking the prize committee, the Nobel Foundation, Dr. Adam Housley, professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, for submitting my articles, Dean Callaway for representing Dartmouth, my colleagues in the New Hampshire State House, and all my family and friends for traveling so many miles to share this moment with me. My brother Jack and his family, my friends Leo and Jenny and Millie and Richard, my sister-in-law Kate and her family, and my mother and father-in-law James and Mary Barrington. Thank you. Even though they're not here, I have to mention my three beautiful daughters who've brought so much joy to my life. And last but certainly not least, I have to thank my amazing wife, Abigail. She's sitting right over there, looking as gorgeous as ever. She's the most important person in the world to me and she played an instrumental role in this accomplishment. Abbey...Sweetheart, I wouldn't be up here without you. Thank you for loving me, inspiring me, encouraging me, motivating me, and standing by me all these years. I love you so much!"

He walked down the slope of the platform, his eyes glued to his wife's form as she rose from her seat and walked towards him. Before he had made it past the golden arch onto the main floor, Abbey grabbed him and yanked him into an embrace so tight that his mouth collided with hers as soon as she claimed him. He picked her up off the ground and spun her around in his arms, their lips still locked, oblivious to the dozen photographers and the flurry of flashes that surrounded them.

TBC


	36. Chapter 36

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 36

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed and Abbey agreed to let Liz attend the Nobel dance next door to the banquet hall; Jed delivered his acceptance speech at the Nobel Banquet

Summary: Leo finds it difficult to resist temptation at the Nobel Ball; Jed introduces Leo to a friend from London; Jed and Abbey meet with King Carl Gustaf and Queen Sylvia of Sweden; Jed has a moment alone with his father-in-law

* * *

The banquet ended shortly after ten and in strict Nobel tradition, the guests followed the Royal Family up the three-tiered marble staircase to the Golden Hall, a room designed with brilliant Italian mosaics all made of 23-carat gold. Under the arched ceilings and antique crystal chandeliers, the soft sound of classical music hummed in the air as photographers and television cameras documented the beginning of the 1982 Nobel Ball live on Swedish television.

Once the fanfare had somewhat subsided, in a secluded little corner on the outskirts of the candlelit tables, Leo detached himself from the party around him, distracted by a slew of destructive thoughts rumbling through his brain. Everywhere he looked, sparkling amber liquid bubbled in long golden-stemmed flutes. He was hypnotized by it, seduced against his will without the fortitude to war the powerful cravings. He had successfully battled his desire to taste the vintage wine at the banquet, but the air of spontaneity at the ball made it much more difficult to resist.

"Leo?" Jenny nudged him when she sensed his lack of focus.

"Sorry. What?"

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I'm good."

"We can leave if you want."

"I'm not ready to leave."

He hadn't yet abandoned his 148 days of sobriety, but on this night, he held special contempt for those who repeatedly told him it would get easier. It wasn't easier. In fact, every day that passed made it just a little bit harder. He could lie to Jenny, who was hovering around him. He could fool Jed, who had been concerned about how he would react to the alcohol at the post-ceremony festivities. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't deny it to himself. He knew what he was doing. He was aware that one slip would unleash a chain reaction that could cost him his family and still, he was unable to stop it.

A stoic expression of control foolishly plastered on his face, Leo reached into his pocket to feel the small baggie he had rolled up earlier. Inside, was one pill - the one that Jed was supposed to take for his back the day Leo accompanied him to his lecture. At the time, Leo simply held it for Jed so Abbey would think her husband had taken his medication, but his mistake was in not tossing it out afterwards.

It was a muscle relaxant, Jed had told him. Not terribly different from the Valium he was given after he returned from Vietnam, Leo had thought. That Valium worked wonders in quenching his need for alcohol with a high no one had noticed all those years ago, and so, he kept Jed's pill for insurance, hoping he wouldn't have to use it, but prepared in case he did.

And now, he knew he had made the right choice. He searched for an excuse to get away from Jenny before he pulled out the baggie. "I'm gonna go call Mallory."

"I called just a little while ago."

"I know, but I didn't get to talk to her. I'll be right back."

Leo had made it halfway across the room when Jed interrupted him mid-stride.

"Leo!"

"Yeah?" He turned to see Jed and another man walking towards him.

"I want you to meet a friend of mine from London."

"Can it wait five minutes? I need to call Mallory."

"I just called. Ellie said they're all having a great time."

"I'd like to check for myself."

"You're a worry wart, you know that?"

"That's a bit ironic coming from a father as overprotective as you. I'll just be a minute." He turned from him then, but Jed grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"You can check for yourself as soon as you say hello to Lord John Marbury." Jed moved slightly to allow John through. "Lord John, my dear friend, Leo McGarry."

"It's nice to meet you." Leo hastily shook the man's hand.

"Likewise."

"Where's Jenny?" Jed quizzed Leo as he took the drink out of Lord John's hand and set it on the table beside them.

"She's back there, talking, mingling..."

John's gaze followed Leo to the table where Jenny sat with Millie and Richard and asked, "That ravishing creature is with you?"

"She's my wife."

"Really? She's breathtaking." John's eyes still glued on the attractive redhead, he patted Leo on the back. "Well done."

To know John was to love him, but unfortunately, Leo didn't know him. Before he could respond to the way John ogled his wife, Jed interjected. "So John, what's this I hear about an ice storm tomorrow?"

"Pay no attention. Every December, newscasters predict a massive storm to blanket the city. I think it's a way to urge the laureates back home, frankly."

"So you live in Sweden?" Leo asked.

"He's a diplomat," Jed answered.

"Oh. Are you the Diplomatic Attaché?"

Lord John turned on him, his fiery eyes glowing with contention. "Oh dear." He scoffed, "No, you see when I was first out of University, I was the Diplomatic Attaché from the Court of St. James. Many years and a myriad of international experiences later, I was appointed the British Consulate-General of Gothenburg. That, of course, was just a short time before I was named the British Deputy Ambassador to Sweden."

"The British Deputy Ambassador," Leo repeated.

"That's right," John replied. "It took 20 years of hard work to climb that back-door political chain of diplomacy. Half the time I spent beating down my opposition with both fists while trying to maintain a somewhat respectable decorum and gentle diplomatic presence."

"John, I'm sure Leo, like myself actually, doesn't know all the ins and outs of..."

"I'm sure he doesn't. If he had, I doubt he would have butchered my title so savagely." John took a sip of his champagne. "Leo, is it?"

"Yes."

"You don't look like a Leo. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"No, I can't say that they have."

"Well, first time for everything." He picked up his glass and downed the rest of his drink in one shot.

Leo looked to Jed. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go call my daughter now."

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you later."

"Lord John." He held out his hand to John once again.

"Marbury," John corrected him. "My official title is Lord John Marbury."

"Yes. Lord John Marbury."

"It was a pleasure to meet you...uh..."

"Leo."

"Yes! Leo! I have such a block against that name."

Leo raised a brow as he passed Jed.

"Leo, hang on." Jed followed him. "I'm sorry. He's a little, you know."

"He's a character."

"How are you doing? I mean..."

Leo held up his hands. "I'm fine. No need to worry."

"If you'd rather not be here, I understand."

"Jed, I'm fine. I just want to call Mal, okay?" Leo crossed in front of him.

Jed nodded and waited for Leo to turn from him before he headed back towards Lord John. "So, John, you were saying about the ceremony..."

"Oh yes. It was a lovely ceremony, but my question is, are you expected to split this year's monetary prize with what's his name?"

"Yosh Takahashi."

"Please don't mention his name. Just the sound of it gives me a headache. I've never met a more pretentious man in my whole life."

Jed noted the irony of Lord John Marbury calling someone else pretentious, though in this case, he had to agree with him. "As a matter of fact, yes, we are splitting the prize."

"Incidentally, the monetary prize this year..." Lord John trailed off just as he caught a glimpse of Abbey's sexy sashay. "Abigail!"

"Lord John," she said, extending her hand to him.

John took her fingers and kissed the back of her hand. "You are positively buxom, just like I remember!"

"You haven't changed much yourself."

Jed slipped his hand between the two to get Abbey's attention. "Ready, Sweetheart?"

"I've been ready for a while."

"You'll excuse us, John? We're needed in the Red Hall." Holding Abbey's hand, Jed hurriedly whisked her away.

"Jed, you didn't even give me a chance to say goodbye."

"Like he won't be standing there salivating when we get back."

"He's a charming man."

"Maybe when he's sober. Tonight, he's just a leech." They skirted around a cluster of tables towards a foyer that led to a room tucked in the back of the hall. "Besides, it's not like I made up an excuse. We have a date, remember?"

"I remember." She gave him a warm smile as security ushered them into the private room.

Though they had been waiting for this encounter ever since the Nobel Prize Committee told them it was customary for the King and Queen to arrange a meeting with the laureates and their spouses, that didn't stop a boiling broth of anxiety from roaring in Jed's stomach. Abbey's either for that matter.

"Nervous?" he asked her.

"No," she lied. "Do I look nervous?"

"I'd be nervous if I was the only one in the conversation who didn't know Swedish."

"I'm comfortable with my shortcomings in that regard, thank you very much."

"That's because you trust me to behave like a gentleman."

She rejected the implication. "Your options are limited."

"Really?" He looked around to confirm they were alone. "Där er et stycke av tråd emellan din brösten. JAG trotsa du till sätta fast den."

Confused, Abbey furrowed her brows. "What?"

"I said there's a piece of thread sticking up from between your breasts. I defy you to fix it."

After she glanced at her cleavage and saw nothing there, she turned her smoldering jade eyes to her husband. "Hey, what's the Swedish word for 'jackass'?"

"I believe you're referring to min Älska," he lied.

"That must be it," she said, knowing he had given her the phrase 'my love' instead.

His lips sealed and only the hint of tiny lines crinkling around his baby blues, Jed gave her that mischievous little grin he knew she could never ignore. Abbey fought it every step of the way, but that was the grin that always rendered her helpless against his subtle manipulation. She shook her head and caved with a grin of her own just as she saw the King and Queen approaching, flanked by their security detail.

"Your Majesties." Jed bowed in their presence. "Det er en är till träffa du."

King Carl Gustaf extended his hand to Jed. "Vi er vännerna. Nej behov för formell."

Abbey leaned in towards her husband when Jed whispered, "I think he wants us to drop the formality."

"Yes, I do," King Gustaf confirmed. "You know Swedish?"

"Just this much." Jed held his fingers an inch apart. "I'm still learning though."

"It's tough studying a new language. My wife speaks nine fluently. I can barely say hello in five."

"Nine languages?" Abbey asked Sylvia.

"That's right," Sylvia confirmed.

Jed wrapped an arm around his wife. "She used to be impressed at the fact that I know four. You guys are raising the bar on me there."

The King and Queen chuckled at Jed's remark and just as the couples moved across the room towards the antique arm chairs that surrounded a gold-trimmed coffee table, the nervous tension seemed to instantly disappear.

Jed expected the conversation to revolve around economics or the Nobel Prize. He expected to hear about Sweden's advances in the medical arena or in research and technology. Instead, King Gustaf abandoned protocol. Inspired by the laureate's banquet speech, the King began talking about his family, specifically his three children.

"My oldest daughter is seven," he said, referring to Crown Princess Victoria. "I read you have a daughter around that age."

"I do. Her name's Ellie."

"Ellie...she's the one you talked about in your speech, the one who asked about Dr. Nobel?" The King, sensing that under all his laureate garb, Jed was as much as a family man as he was, urged him to tell him more about his daughters.

"That's the one. She's curious. She's always asking questions. If she doesn't understand something, she struggles with it until she does."

"She's eight years old?"

"Yeah. Third grade. She's so smart though, she's reading at a fifth grade level."

"Ah, another genius in the making."

"You don't know the half of it. Just like you were saying about Victoria, Ellie's always got her nose in a book. She's so advanced and not just in reading. She just learned all her multiplication tables - every single one - months ahead of the rest of her class."

Abbey listened quietly, her heart swelling with love with each syllable Jed spoke of Ellie's accomplishments. If there was ever a way to pull her husband out of his professional demeanor tailored by years as a college professor, it was to mention to his children. Suddenly, all the warmth and kindness that lived in his soul would emerge, awakening a glimmer of vulnerability along with it.

"You put a premium on education in your house," King Gustaf said.

"How did you know?" Jed asked.

"You make your kids bring news items to the dinner table. Sounds like you've set a standard."

"We want them to be well-read, well-informed, well-educated, but also well-rounded. We want them involved in activities besides academics. Ellie, for instance, is also a Girl Scout and an athlete."

"What sport does she play?"

"What sport doesn't she play? She's always running around doing something. The last few years, it's been primarily volleyball, softball, and soccer. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, she scored TWO goals for her soccer team."

Noticing the emphasis and pride in his voice, Abbey tightened the grip around Jed's waist. "She gets her love of sports from her father."

"Nah, not really." Jed dismissed the notion. "She wouldn't be on that soccer team if it wasn't for the fact that her mother used to play."

"Don't listen to him. She's a lot more like Jed than either of them realize."

Jed treasured that thought. Of course he and Ellie had their differences. When it came to some things, father and daughter were like oil and water. They would never understand the other's position; never expect the other's reaction. But despite his theory that Ellie was his polar opposite, it flattered Jed to think that at least some of her qualities mirrored his.

He stood with Abbey for the next fifteen minutes behind those symbolic antique chairs, and amid the sound of rustling ball gowns and old-fashioned tuxes as well as the chatter of mingling dignitaries right outside that room, the Bartlets reminisced with Sweden's Royal Couple, not as laureate and royalty, but as parents, sharing stories that bridged the differences between them.

* * *

"I heard Lizzie and Sven are huddled in a corner, necking," a throaty voice whispered in Jed's ear.

Jed spun around with a fury James barely recognized. "Where?"

James laughed. "Only kidding."

"That's not funny."

"Blame my daughter. She's the one who told me your reaction would be priceless."

"She did, did she?" Jed crossed in front of his father-in-law, scanning the room. "Where is my wife?"

"She'll be back."

"You're a traitor, you know. You're a father. You should be on my side."

"I am on your side. I've been exactly where you are now. The first time Abbey mentioned a boy, I went crazy."

"So I'm not being unreasonable."

"I think you're being fair."

"Tell Lizzie that. I sent Alexander to that dance to keep an eye on her."

"She'll get over it."

"No matter what I let her do, she always wants more."

"She's fourteen. Both my daughters were the same way at that age."

"Yeah, but Abbey...I can't imagine Abbey giving you any trouble."

"Think again, Jed. I used to have hair before Abbey hit her teens. Her favorite trick back then was sneaking off in the middle of the night."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. She and her girlfriends used to pack into this old beat-up car that belonged to Millie's brother and go cruising at warp speed around the hills and mountains outside Montpelier."

"Lizzie would be grounded for the rest of her life if she did that."

"Abbey was too. Against my objection, her mother made the foolish mistake of lifting the punishment when we moved to Boston two years later."

Jed was visibly amused. "And how old was she then?"

"Seventeen. If it was up to me, she would have been grounded even through college."

"Well, can I say on behalf of someone who met her during those college years, I'm glad her mother won that fight."

"In some ways, so am I." James stared fondly at his son-in-law.

"You're looking at me funny."

"I was just thinking. You know what it's like being a parent. You teach them well, you raise them to have morals and self-respect, and still, you fear what's waiting for them outside your house. You're there to patch up those skinned knees when they're young, there to offer support when they fight with their friends over the latest middle school drama, there to dry their tears the first time they get their heart broken in high school, and through it all, you pray that one day, when she's much, much, MUCH older, she'll meet someone who will take care of her the way she deserves to be taken care of. You pray for someone who will be kind to her, who will love her with all his heart and soul. And if you're lucky, your prayers are eventually answered."

"Prayers I can do. I've never been big on luck."

"I wasn't either...until Abbey married you."

Abbey once told Jed that her father hated sappy conversation. James Barrington kept his tender side well hidden, she said, and only under special circumstances would he betray that sentiment and reveal a spectacle of emotions in a look unique to him, a look that conveyed joy, love, and utter pride. Jed had seen this expression before - once on their wedding day, once again when he first held baby Lizzie in his arms and then when he held Ellie and finally, the day he met Zoey - but he didn't expect to see it tonight.

Touched, Jed was speechless.

"There you are! Leo said you were out on the terrace." Abbey brushed up against him as she intruded on the two men. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No. I was just filling Jed in on some of your teenage adventures."

"I want a chance to defend myself against whatever he told you."

Jed held out his hand to her, chuckling. "Come on."

Abbey accepted. "You're not taking me out on the terrace."

"It's a beautiful night."

"It's 20 degrees."

"The stars have never been brighter."

"Jed -"

"Relax, Hot Pants. I just want to dance with you." He pulled her onto the dance floor and with his left hand, he held her by the small of her back and laced the fingers of his right hand around hers. "We barely danced tonight."

Abbey sank into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Leo's in a much better mood."

"Was he in a bad mood before?"

"Jenny said he was a little grumpy."

"I knew he'd have a hard time with all the alcohol being served tonight."

"Well, it looks like everything's fine now."

"Good."

"So what were you and my father really talking about?"

"He told you the truth. We were talking about you and your rebellious ways."

"Please. I was never a rebel."

Jed lifted their arms and spun her around underneath. With her back to him, he closed his eyes as he took in the sweet smell of her hair, the feel of her silky skin against his chin. From behind, he whispered softly in her ear. "Not what I hear."

"Everything he told you was fabricated." She turned in his arms, affectionately stroking the part of his cheek that had been slightly stained by her lipstick.

"You know what I love?"

"What?"

"That after all these years, I'm still finding out new things about you."

"Even if they are lies."

"Let's see. You or your dad. Who do you think I'm more likely to believe?"

"Shut up and dance with me, min Älska."

He unsuccessfully tried to suppress his laugh as she cuddled up to him. "My pleasure."

"By the way, the word is åsna."

Jed pulled away. "What?"

"The Swedish word for jackass."

"How did you know that?"

"I looked it up several weeks ago."

"You did?"

"I figured seven days in Sweden, I'd use that word at least once."

"So just now when you said min Älska, you knew?"

"Of course I knew. I know all."

"Except the proper way to pronounce åsna."

"You're pushing your luck."

"I'll be quiet now."

He touched her again. His strong hand swallowed hers in a firm grasp and his other hand rested along the curve of her tiny waist as they began the elegant steps of the Viennese Waltz. The gentle breeze of their movements fanned the wispy strands that had fallen from her beautifully upswept auburn locks. The skirt of her strapless blue chiffon and silk ball gown flowed all around as they gracefully twirled from one end of the dance floor to the other.

Even as guests started to filter out of the Golden Hall, Jed and Abbey maintained their rhythm. Their eyes locked into each others, they danced the intimate dance of lovers until the first streak of sunlight called an end to the magic of the Nobel Ball.

TBC


	37. Chapter 37

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 37

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Overcome by the temptation of the alcohol at the Nobel Ball, Leo secretly took one of Jed's muscle relaxants; when Jed and Abbey met with King Gustaf and Queen Sylvia, Jed bragged about Ellie; Liz attended the teen dance with Sven; Jed invited Jack and Kellie to spend Christmas at the farm (chapter 33)

Summary: Jed is pleased that Brad and Ellie seem to be getting along; Liz is upset with her father; Yosh joins Jed and Abbey on the ride to the Royal Palace for the annual laureate lunch with the King and Queen; Abbey surprises Jed

Rated R

* * *

"My turn, Zoey!"

"But I wanna do it again!"

"You can do it again after Mallory and I get a turn."

Ellie inched her little sister out of the way as she slid into position. Her hands carefully gripping the shifts, she waited for Mallory to insert a dime into the slot before she pulled the lever that navigated the mechanical claw towards a beautiful doll that captivated her interest since she first laid eyes upon her - St. Lucia.

Before leaving for Sweden, Jed had shared the story of the life of the young Christian girl who died for her faith on December 13th 303 A.D. Lucy was her name, he told his daughters, and she was a Sicilian martyr. In the middle of the night, she would dress in a long white gown and place a crown of candles on her head so that both of her hands would be free to carry a tray of food to her fellow Christians living in hiding for fear of persecution.

In her honor, every year on the morning of December 13th, Swedish towns would appoint their own St. Lucia - usually a little girl with hair of gold - to oversee the festivities of the day and officially mark the start of the Christmas season.

So entranced by the legend, Ellie had practically memorized the story. When she saw the blonde St. Lucia doll buried under a mountain of stuffed animals in the mechanical claw machine, she begged Jed for a roll of dimes to fish her out of the pile.

"DARN!" Mallory shouted. "You almost had it!"

"I'm gonna try one more time."

"Ellie, I wanna try again," Zoey whined at Ellie's side.

"You can try again in a minute, Zo. Just let me do it one more time."

Their eyes lit up in anticipation as Ellie maneuvered the metal claw directly above the doll, but just as it closed its legs around the neck of St. Lucia and pulled her from under the stack, the game ended and the claw returned to its place, leaving the doll on top of the other toys.

"Can I play now, Ellie?" Zoey asked.

"As soon as Mallory gets a turn." Ellie moved out of the way to give Mallory access to the dime slots. "What do you want?" she asked when she saw her cousin Brad watching them.

Brad shrugged. "I'm bored."

"Ellie, can I go now?" Zoey asked again as soon as Mallory finished.

"Yeah, Zoey, you can go," Mallory answered. She helped the toddler insert another dime, then picked her up so she could reach the handles.

Meanwhile, Ellie stood to the side of the machine, eyeing her cousin. He seemed more than bored, she thought. He was withdrawn, somber even. Though she didn't understand why he looked the way he did, she noted his sadness with sympathy and reached into her pocket to pull out another dime.

"Here."

Confused, Brad took the token. "What's this for?"

"You can play if you want."

* * *

In the hotel restaurant just a few feet away from where Mallory, Ellie, Zoey, and Brad tried repeatedly to win one of the many toys and stuffed animals, Jed pulled his chair up to the breakfast table and took a sip of a freshly poured glass of orange.

"What time did you guys leave the ball?" Leo questioned as he joined his friend.

"I don't know. Five or six maybe. We wanted to take a nap when we got back to the hotel, but Lizzie was waiting up for Abbey."

"Tales to tell of the evening with Sven?"

"Apparently. Lizzie was still stewing about the fact that I sent Alexander to the dance to keep an eye on her, so I, of course, was excluded from the girl talk."

"Must have driven you crazy."

"Not really," he lied. "At least I got to sleep."

His gaze wandered towards the sound of Liz's voice echoing from the arched entrance to the restaurant. He listened carefully, eavesdropping just as he had earlier in the suite, hoping to secretly share in the emotions that had his eldest daughter so excited.

"It was so romantic!" the teenager gleefully told her mother. "He said it had always been his favorite because the melody was like one of those old classic love songs."

"Did you understand a word of the lyrics?" Abbey asked.

"Not really, but I didn't care."

No longer able to hide his presence, Jed stood to greet his wife and daughter. "Hello."

"Hello, Father."

"See that, Leo? It's 'father' now. Told ya she was pissed."

"She's not pissed," Abbey assured him.

"Easy for you to say. When was the last time she used that tone with you?"

"I didn't use a tone," Liz replied.

"I detected a tone," Jed insisted.

"And I'm not pissed either."

"Then why are you calling me 'father'?"

"Because it makes you crazy," she grinned.

"Well, by all means..."

"Because you tricked me."

"How did I trick you?"

"You led me to believe you wouldn't send a spy."

"Alexander wasn't my spy. In fact, he told me nothing of what went on at that dance and I intentionally didn't ask him about it. He was just there to make sure you were okay, not to report back to me."

"Really?"

"Really." Jed straightened his posture and addressed her again. "Elizabeth, years and years from now...decades hopefully...you'll have kids of your own and you'll understand. Until then, you've gotta trust me when I tell you I'm just looking out for you."

Liz cocked her brow and said, "Still, I didn't use a tone."

Shaking his head, Jed looked over to Leo. "See what you have to look forward to? There's nothing like sassy teenagers to get the day started."

"I can hardly wait." Leo smiled.

"And speaking of our kids, here they come." Abbey held out her hand to Zoey. "Did you guys win anything?"

"NO! It's broken!"

"The machine's not broken," Ellie replied. "We just can't get anything out of it."

"Well, sit down and have your breakfast. I'll take you all to the chocolate shop after we eat." Jed caught Abbey's disapproving stare. "It's our last full day in Stockholm."

"Okay, but once they're all sugared up, they're your responsibility."

"I hate that machine!" Brad came wandering to the table carrying the St. Lucia doll Ellie had been trying to win. "I wanted the football and instead, I got this crummy doll!" He dropped it right in front of his eight-year-old cousin.

"It's the St. Lucia doll!" Ellie exclaimed, picking it up in her arms. "You don't want it?"

"Dolls are for girls!"

"Can I have it?"

"I put it in front of you, didn't I?"

"THANK YOU!"

"Yeah, yeah."

He started to walk away, but Jed followed. "Brad, where are you going?"

"My mom's still upstairs. I wanna ask her for a dime so I can try again."

"Here." Jed pulled out another roll of dimes for his nephew.

"Thanks!"

"It was nice of you to get that doll for Ellie."

"I only did it because the doll was blocking the football."

"Well, whatever the reason, it was nice of you."

Jed smiled, unconvinced Brad aimed for the doll as a matter of convenience. He had seen the subtle changes in his nephew's attitude since that infamous Thanksgiving dinner in Manchester and though he would never freely admit it, even Brad was conscious of it.

He and Ellie could still bicker like brothers and sisters caught in the middle of a heated rivalry, but he couldn't deny that in ways too small to count independently, they had become nicer to one another every day the family spent in Sweden.

* * *

From her suite's sitting room, Abbey stared out the window at the wintery scene around her. The hallowing wind blew through the snow-covered branches, snapping the thinner ones in half as it swirled the fallen flakes around the harbor.

"Jed?"

"Yeah?" he called back to her from the bedroom.

"You better hurry up. It's pretty brutal out there."

"I'm almost ready."

"We don't want to be late."

"The Palace is just a few blocks from here, Abbey."

"Some of the roads are closed. We might have to take an alternate route."

"We'll be fine."

"What took so long at the candy store anyway?"

"I had to mediate a disagreement between Ellie and Mallory."

"About what?"

"Who got to hold the doll on the way back from the candy store."

Abbey chuckled. "And who won?"

"I explained to Ellie that since the doll was hers to keep, it would be nice if Mallory got to carry it back to the hotel."

"And she agreed."

"Not only that. She asked if we could buy Mallory a St. Lucia doll like hers before we leave Sweden."

"She's always been generous."

"Yes, she has."

"She got that from me, you know."

"You flatter yourself, Babe."

"Someone has to," she quipped lightheartedly.

Jed poked his head around the corner. "Is it cold there in my shadow?"

Abbey smacked him in the face with a towel. "You're such a jackass sometimes."

"You love me anyway." He winked.

"God knows why," she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

"I heard that."

"Kellie said that she and Jack are spending Christmas with us."

"Yeah. I hope that's okay. I should have checked with you first, but since you always say the more family the better, I figured..."

"Jed, you don't have to ask my permission to invite your brother over."

"It wasn't your permission I was looking for." He emerged from the bedroom in a pair of black slacks and a white shirt, a red tie wrapped loosely around his neck. "It was your blessing."

"You got it." Abbey approached him, her hands immediately reaching for his tie.

Taken by her gorgeous form, he inspected her outfit. From the black leather boots that stretched up her shapely calves to just below her knees, to the purple knit St. John suit, trimmed in black that hugged all her curves with sexy sophistication, to her shiny auburn locks that tumbled freely over a pair of unobtrusive amethyst earrings to settle around her collar in a cascade of soft, bouncy waves, she was the epitome of class.

"You look great by the way." He cupped her chin to lift her head. "Really, really great."

"You don't look so bad yourself." They locked eyes just as she finished tightening his tie.

"Ready?"

Abbey gave his tie one last tug and fixed his collar around it. "Yeah."

"Let's hit the road." Jed grabbed her purple winter coat and wrapped it around her as they walked out the door.

* * *

Jed and Abbey braved the stinging ice pellets that showered them the second they left the hotel lobby. When they spotted Felix just a few feet away, standing outside to hold the limo door open for the couple, Jed took his wife's hand and sped up his pace towards the car.

"And you said there wouldn't really be an ice storm," Abbey reminded him as she slid into the back.

"I didn't say it. Lord John did. He said the threat of ice storms comes every year at this time. It's general folklore to push all the tourists out of town."

"Look outside, Pumpkin. Does that look like folklore to you?"

"All right, so just this once, the forecasters happened to be right." Jed opened the partition that separated them from Felix. "We're ready, Felix. Thanks."

"I'm waiting for two more passengers, Dr. Bartlet."

"Two more passengers?"

"Yes, Sir," Felix replied. "Because of the storm, there have been quite a few accidents and slide-offs today. Three of our cars are out of commission, so the Nobel Committee asked that I drive two laureates to the Palace instead of one. Dr. Takahashi and his companion will be joining us."

"Great," Jed grumbled as he sat back.

"It's a short drive," Abbey told him.

She was right. It was a short drive, but knowing that did nothing to ease Jed's frustration. Ever since their first meeting in Stockholm, Yosh had been rude, condescending, and patronizing to him. One of the bright spots about the end of Nobel week was that he thought he'd never have to see Yosh again, but like an annoying gnat always buzzing around, Yosh's immortal presence threatened to sour yet another event.

The fact that they now had to share a ride with him for the traditional laureate lunch at the Royal Palace made Jed cringe with hostility. "I'll never be rid of this guy."

"A few hours today and then that's it."

"Until his plane is delayed and he ends up hitching a ride on ours."

"No one hitches a ride on a plane." Her jovial demeanor didn't amuse him. "Would you lighten up? This will be over before you know it."

"That's what you said before my last dentist appointment."

"And?"

"They knocked me out and took all my teeth."

Of all his many skills, Abbey sometimes thought Jed's greatest talent was in the power of exaggeration. "They were wisdom teeth, carefully extracted while you were under the influence of nitrous oxide."

"It hurt like hell."

"And so will this." She reached over to take his hand. "But if you don't make a scene, it'll be before you know it."

She had a point. After carefully debating the damaging consequences of yet another round of verbal sparring, Jed abandoned his animosity towards his nemesis. Instead, he welcomed Yosh and his fiancée and attempted to make polite conversation. But when his efforts went ignored, several tension-filled moments passed as the two couples stared silently out the window. Abbey could hear her husband mumbling under his breath. She figured whatever it was he was saying was better left unheard by the other occupants, and so, she left him to his quiet rant.

Minutes later, Jed turned to his rival and with renewed energy, he broke the silence.

"My medal has my name on it, you know." Three pairs of eyes turned on Jed. Abbey's were the most indignant. "What? I'm just saying this is the first year they put names on the economic medals and it would have been easy for the engraver to have made a mistake."

"He didn't," Yosh replied coolly. "My medal has my name on it too."

"Well, then...good," Jed answered bitterly. "I get the feeling you're about as pleased as I am about all this."

"Jed." Abbey rested her hand on his thigh.

"I just want him to know it wasn't my choice either, but that I think in the spirit of today, we can be men enough to rise to the occasion and pretend to like one another in the interest of civility."

"I've been civil," Yosh countered.

"I guess that depends on your definition of civil."

Abbey tried to distract Jed. "You know what, we're almost there."

"My silence is being civil."

"See, that's where we disagree, my friend. To me, civility is about more than just biting your tongue and hoping no one notices the hostile..."

Jed stopped mid-sentence as the car swerved unexpectedly, twisting and turning from one side of the pavement to the other until it eventually slid off the road and down an embankment. Abbey grabbed on to his jacket and even in the chaos, Jed managed to hold her close to his frame while being tossed around during the bumpy descent into a snowy field.

"What the hell?" Jed helped Abbey up off his lap once the car stopped. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Felix?" He pulled the partition. "What happened?"

"Are you all okay?"

"Yeah, but what happened?"

"I'm sorry. I hit a patch of black ice. I think I punctured my tire too."

"That's not a big deal. We can change a tire."

"No, Sir. I'll change the tire. I need to arrange for another ride for you and Dr. Takahashi."

"Can't we just call one of the other drivers?"

"The other drivers are driving the other laureates and the King expects you all there promptly at two. I'll have to make other arrangements."

Abbey fell back against her seat. "Now what?"

"We wait." Jed leaned back as well. "Looks like we have a little more time to kill."

"If I'm not mistaken, you were about to lecture me about the virtue of civility." Yosh smirked at his rival.

* * *

"I'm just saying it's the courteous thing to do!" Jed bellowed from the bathroom that evening. "You take a ride in a cab, you pay the fare. It's not a difficult concept. Am I right?"

Covered with only one layer of red satin sheets, Abbey sat up against the headboard as she released her hair of the ponytail holder that tamed her wavy tresses. "Yes, Jed, you're right. We've been over this two dozen times."

"You don't just hop out of the cab and expect the other passengers to pick up the tab."

"The cab driver didn't expect either of you to pay. He said so himself."

"Just because he said it was a privilege to drive us to the Palace doesn't mean he didn't expect to get paid. Yosh took advantage of the man's kindness."

"I'm sure he expected the Nobel committee to pay the fare."

"Hogwash! We just won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Don't tell me he didn't know what he was doing stiffing me with the cab fare."

Abbey rolled her eyes and huffed, "Would you hurry up and finish already!"

Jed walked out suspiciously and framed himself in the doorway, a towel in his hand as he continued to dry his face. "What?"

"I've been waiting for you for 20 minutes now."

"I'm coming." He tossed the towel behind him and crawled into bed. "I mean, he just doesn't understand..."

"Stop talking." She crawled on top of him and dropped her lips to his. "You know what the Queen said when you walked out of the room today?"

The second Jed felt the soft touch of her nude back against his hands, all other thoughts escaped him. "Hmm?"

"At lunch. You, the King, and one of the scouts left the room."

"Is that the start of a riddle?"

"Be serious."

"Since I was out of the room, I feel confident in saying, no, I don't know what the Queen said about me."

Abbey laid her head on his chest and traced her nails up his arm. "She said of all the laureates she's met in the past, you're the one she'll never forget." Her hand now on his chest, she propped her chin to rest on top. "You know why?"

"My stunning good looks?" Jed joked.

"Your love for your family." She knew she had his attention. "Queen Sylvia said she'll always remember your enthusiasm when you talked about Ellie at the ball, as if her accomplishments were your own."

"Yeah?"

"You know something?"

"What?"

"It's what I'll always remember about this trip too."

"Not the hot-air balloon ride or the fun we had in the hot tub that first night or...I don't know...the actual...you know...ceremony?"

"I treasure those memories too."

"Good because I figured the ceremony would be the highlight."

"It is in some ways. But the thing I'll always come back to is that ninety minutes after my husband won the most prestigious award in the world, he stood with the King of Sweden and bragged about his daughter's multiplication tables." She reached for the gift wrapped rectangular box that was sitting on the nightstand.

"What's that?"

"Open it."

Jed tore through the paper to find a hardcover book that bore every syllable of the journal articles submitted to the Nobel Prize committee. "Oh, Abbey."

"This is your book, Jed. Every word of your theory is in this book."

"You went to an awful lot of trouble."

"Not really. All I did was organize the articles since there were several entries. The publisher did the rest."

"Why?"

"I wanted there to be something more than your bound journal articles to keep in the Nobel Library. I wanted it in a book." She opened the flap to show him the dedication. "Look here."

"A message to Elizabeth, Eleanor, and Zoey," he read. "But what about you?"

"You already showed me your gratitude with the acceptance speech at the banquet."

"I meant it."

"I know you did."

He set the book aside so his arms were free to hold her. "And you said I don't flatter you."

She gave him that saucy look that could instantly bring him to his knees as he ran the tips of his fingers down her spine, into the valley at the small of her back, and up again at the swell of her rear. An aroused Abbey straddled his thighs and then pushed herself forward to engulf his mouth once again.

Yosh was a distant memory now. All Jed cared about in that moment was the methodical movements of the breathtaking creature on top of him. Her kisses warmed his face. Her hair tickled his jaw. Her heart beat against his and as she held his head in the palms of her hand, he felt it beat just a little bit faster.

Abbey wiggled her way down his body, leaving a tingling trail of kisses down his chest as she unbuttoned the buttons of his top. She gently nibbled the skin sheltered by the elastic of his pants until Jed raised his hips off the bed to help her roll his pants down his legs. As she prolonged the sensual assault over his most sensitive regions and heard him shudder in anticipation, she gave him a glimpse of the desire exploding from the depths of her expressive jade eyes. Without a moment's hesitation, her lashes fluttered and she positioned herself in such a way that she could hold him in her arms and stare deep into his handsome baby blues.

Slowly, tenderly, and adoringly she stroked him and kissed him and intentionally delayed the inevitable climax of passion so she could continue to make love to him until morning.

TBC


	38. Chapter 38

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 38

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Yosh and Jed clashed during a ride to the Royal Palace for the annual laureate lunch with the King and Queen; Abbey surprised Jed with his journal articles bound and published as a book; Jed invited his brother and his family over for Christmas (Chapter 33)

Summary: A St. Lucia Day wake-up call catches Jed and Abbey off-guard; Jed asks Jack for a favor; Liz wants to know what Jed and Abbey have planned to end their Swedish vacation

* * *

Smooth and even. His body rose in a steady rhythm under her.

It had been a while since Jed's breathing had lulled Abbey to sleep. Her head rested on his shoulder and the palm of her hand sat across his masculine chest. His legs were tangled around hers and he held her by her lower back, his fingers curling around the hem of the red satin sheets that covered her curvaceous nude form from her hips to her ankles. Their toes peeked out at the foot of the bed, stubbornly intertwined.

They were so comfortable in each other's arms that they had drifted off to a deep sleep, one that even a choir of singers entering the front door of their suite couldn't disturb.

They walked in quietly, this band of attendants who carried candles and baskets of pastries in their hands. Their unfamiliar melody penetrated the door as they neared the bedroom. Abbey's eyes began to flutter and she stirred in her sleep.

"Jed?" She shook him softly. "Jed, Honey, wake up."

"Hmm?"

"Someone's here."

As she heard the turn of the knob, Abbey fell to Jed's side, scrambling for the sheets to cover her exposed flesh. Jed wiped his eyes, fully alert and somewhat alarmed for the next several seconds as a procession of strangers accompanied by hotel management came in to serenade them.

"Natten går tunga fjät runt gård och stuva."

They sang in beautiful harmony while a pretty little girl in long golden curls and a flowing white robe emerged from behind them, a crown of flickering artificial candles balanced precariously on her head. Her appearance immediately reminded Jed and Abbey of this special day.

"I forgot it was St. Lucia Day," Jed whispered to his wife as she relaxed under her sheet.

Abbey's eyes wandered to the doorway and around the corner to see a couple of photographers who began furiously flashing their cameras. "Jed?"

Jed pulled her closer to him so he could cover her as much as possible while he signaled one of the hotel representatives to escort the photographers out of the suite.

In the meantime, the St. Lucia singers continued their Christmas hymn and when they were finished, they handed the Bartlets a tray with two mugs of steamy hot coffee, delicious saffron buns, and a special Lucia present gift-wrapped in silver-star wrapping paper.

"Now remember. You musn't open the present until you arrive back home," one of the women informed them.

"Is that part of the tradition?" Abbey asked.

"For the laureates, it is. That gift is a little something to remind you of Sweden."

"In that case, we promise to tuck it away until we're back in New Hampshire," Jed assured them.

From her seat, snuggled under the sheets, Abbey thanked them for the morning treats and one by one, they filed out of the bedroom, closing the door behind them.

Touched, she looked at her husband. "That was so sweet."

Jed set the tray of food on the nightstand. "There's something to be said for tradition."

"And the St. Lucia girl...could she have been any cuter?"

"She reminded me of Ellie with her blonde curls. How old was she do you think? Ten?"

"Sounds about right."

"Such good singers, every one of them. Great way to wake up, huh?"

"I just wish I had been dressed." Abbey stood up to reach for the blue silk robe draped over the back of a chair.

"It's no big deal."

"Not for you."

"Abbey."

"I know, I know. It's just...I wish I had been dressed, that's all."

"It was a nice gesture."

"Of course it was. I'm just questioning why they don't warn you. I mean, would it be so bad to give some warning, especially when they know the press is going to be tagging along?"

"Don't worry about the press."

"I'm not," she replied. "I'm making too big a deal out of it, aren't I? I know it wasn't planned. I know they probably just didn't have time to tell us, right?"

"Yeah."

She saw him lower his head in that way that always made her suspicious. "Jed? This was a surprise to you too, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." He was never good at lying about the small things.

"How did you know this was a tradition?"

"What?"

"You said there's something to be said for tradition."

"I meant the holiday."

"And when I asked the woman if opening the present later was a tradition, she said for the laureates, it is. What does that mean? Is it tradition to barge into the room of the Nobel Laureates in the early morning hours of St. Lucia Day?"

"You ask too many questions."

"Jed?"

"All right, look..."

"You didn't tell me?"

"I forgot."

"How could you not tell me?"

"It slipped my mind, Abbey." He pulled the basket of buns into his lap.

"I was in bed naked, Jed!"

"You were covered."

"Under a thin sheet!"

"They couldn't see a damn thing. No one could."

She folded her arms across her chest. "What if we had been making love?"

"We weren't."

"We might have been."

"We also might have been caught up in a titillating conversation about the mystery of the Japanese pyramids. The point is, we weren't." She gave him that stare that told him, without the benefit of words, that he was in trouble. "It honestly slipped my mind. I was as surprised as you were when they came in." He extended his hand to offer her a bun. "Here." She didn't move. "Abbey?"

Abbey grabbed her towel and headed to the bathroom. "Don't talk to me."

"You can't be mad at me on St. Lucia Day," he shouted as she slammed the door.

* * *

"Hey, Zoey, look, it's Santa Claus!" From the upper deck of their ferry, Ellie enthusiastically nudged her baby sister to look past the subtle whitecaps in the water and towards the land where Father Christmas was strolling among the holiday shoppers.

"Mommy, Santa!" Zoey jumped up and down. "Look, Mommy! Look! It's SANTA!"

"I see, Sweetheart. We'll have to catch up to him."

Zoey held on to the railing, her eyes wide with excitement. Ever since Abbey took her to the mall for Santa's arrival the day after Thanksgiving, Zoey had been eagerly awaiting her next encounter with the jolly old man.

"It's Santa!" She spoke his name with the wonderment of an innocent child then shouted for him so loud that her voice could be heard for blocks along the waterfront as the boat approached the small island of Uto.

Chuckling, Abbey took her hand, but when they docked and stepped down to the first level, the toddler let go and charged forward onto the pier. Without looking back, she started on her way down the open streets that lined the snowy shores of the Baltic Sea.

Abbey chased after her. "ZOEY!"

"Santa!" she called out, running a little faster.

"Zoey Patricia Bartlet!" Abbey grabbed the fabric of her coat first. Then, she latched on to her arm and picked her up. "What did I tell you about staying with me?"

"But Santa..."

"Will be there when we get there!"

Jed amusingly watched his daughter struggle to free herself of her mother's hold, knowing all along that she would never win this battle. Abbey was protective of all her daughters, but she was particularly protective of Zoey. Though she often gave the three-year-old some freedom instead of keeping her tethered to her stroller, when Zoey pushed the envelop and ignored Abbey's warnings, as she frequently did, there was no room for compromise.

"I wanna get down!" Zoey cried as Abbey tightened her hold.

"Nope."

She looked over Abbey's shoulder at her father. "Daddy?"

"Sorry, Kitten." Jed shrugged.

Defeated, the little girl crinkled her brows, kicked her feet for good measure, and finally surrendered the fight. With Ellie, Lizzie, Kellie, and Brad just behind them, mother and daughter inched their way slowly through the quaint neighborhood crowded with patrons gathering for the annual homestyle Christmas Bazaar.

Jack held back a few paces, walking in-stride with his brother. "She's got a temper."

"Zoey?" Jed glanced at his daughter's disgruntled face. "Yeah. She gets it from Abbey."

"Funny, I was thinking just the opposite."

"You don't know my wife," he smirked. "You sure you don't want me to ride with you to the airport?"

"There's no point in you going all the way out there just to see us off."

Jed nodded. "So then Christmas Eve?"

"Yeah. I'll make the arrangements when we get back to Ohio."

"You know who we're having over this year?"

"Who?"

"Mrs. Landingham."

"She's coming up from Baltimore?"

"Even if I have to fly down there and drive her up myself."

"I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her at Dad's funeral."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time at Christmas." Jed slowed down when Jack stopped. "Jack?"

"Does it feel strange to you? This is our first Christmas without them. I mean, Mom died years ago and I haven't been with either one of them at Christmas for years, but this year...this year, I feel like an orphan."

"Yeah," Jed replied uncomfortably. "I've been feeling like that myself lately."

Jack knew how difficult things must have been for Jed the past few months. He had achieved international recognition, reached the pinnacle of success, and it all started weeks after their father's death. If John Bartlet had lived to see his elder son take home such an honor, would he have, for once, lavished him with the approval he always kept guarded, Jack wondered. Or would he have dismissed the Nobel Prize the way he did so many of Jed's other accomplishments over the years?

In some ways, he thought, it was a blessing they never found out. Living with the curiosity was better than the potential bitterness John's attitude may have sparked.

"Do you wish he would have been here to see this?"

"Do I wish my father could have seen me accept the Nobel Prize?" It wasn't such an easy question, Jed realized. It took him a minute to answer. "I really don't know. I do wish Mom was here though."

Jack swallowed his doubts before he replied. "They would have been proud of you...both of them. You made it, Jed. All your other accolades aside, this is something Dad couldn't have - something he wouldn't have - taken away from you."

Jack would never truly know how much those words meant to Jed. Grateful for his brother's statement, Jed expressed his appreciation with warm smile. "Hey, have you ever thought about moving back to New Hampshire?"

"All the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Think you can do it?"

"I own a house."

"Sell it."

"It's not that easy."

"It is that easy."

"I have a job, Brad's in school..."

"Manchester has some of the best schools in the nation."

"It's a big decision."

"Yeah, it is," Jed agreed. "Think it over. Discuss it with Kellie. And if you decide it's the right move, I'd love it if you'd get back home before the summer of '84."

"Why? What's so special about the summer of '84?"

"Nothing, except I thought I might get to see those business skills of yours at work. That is, if you'd consider doing me a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"Help me out on my campaign. Join my finance team."

"What campaign?"

"For U.S. Congress."

"You're running for U.S. Congress?"

"As long as I get my daughters' blessings."

"And you want my help?"

"Political operatives are a dime a dozen and for the right salary, they'll all tell you what you want to hear. Business is your strength, Jack. You'd know how to raise funds, how to capitalize on donations and fundraising events."

"But I know very little about politics and even less about New Hampshire voters. I wouldn't have a clue where your money could do you the most good."

"Well, it wouldn't just be you. It would be a team. But I want you to be a part of it."

"Why?"

"Because there's no one I trust more to look out for my financial best interest on this campaign." He sensed Jack's apprehension. "You don't have to tell me now. Talk to Kellie."

"How'd you know I was thinking about Kellie?"

Jed held up his hand to show off his wedding ring. "I've got one too."

* * *

After filling several gift bags to the rim with handcrafted Scandinavian Christmas presents and souvenirs for the kids, the Bartlets cruised the icy archipelago on-board an old-fashioned steamboat while they dined on a traditional Christmas buffet of pickled herring and Swedish meatballs. The three-hour trip to Gamla Stan gave them one last opportunity to admire the vast stretch of sea shaded by the bustling islands and the deserted rocky islets that made up the city of Stockholm.

Once they arrived at their destination, Lizzie led the way towards the center of Old Town where a historic 18th century complex housed the Nobel Museum. She walked in alongside her father, unable to disguise her amazement when they saw hundreds of laureate portraits hanging from the ceiling by a cableway that moved throughout the lobby.

In an adjoining room, a television played memorable moments of Nobel ceremonies of the past and weathered old copies of Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm's daily newspaper, stocked the shelves of a souvenir newsstand in the corner. Beside it was a stack of recent press publications splattered with pictures and interviews of the 1982 award winners.

"Dad, look!" Liz held up a magazine that showed a photo of Jed on the cover waving to the crowd that greeted them on the way to the Stockholm Concert Hall.

"That's pretty cool, huh?" Jed tried to be as nonchalant as possible.

"It's way more than cool!" Liz skirted around him towards the television. "The sign says they'll add memorable moments from the 1982 ceremony in a few weeks. We should come back sometime to see what they add."

"We will. We'll make it a vacation."

Watching from the sidelines, Abbey couldn't help but eavesdrop on the duo. She knew Lizzie had been bored by the ceremony itself, but seeing her father honored as one of the world's brightest men must have filled her with a kind of pride she had never felt before. It was obvious in the way she talked about it, the pitch in her voice when she told all her friends about the day she came home from school to find out that Jed had won, and the undercurrent of excitement she attempted to hide when she described the ceremony to Sven, who had been there to see it himself.

The night before, Jed noted that of all the kids who came to Stockholm to support him during the fanfare of the Nobel Prize, Lizzie had enjoyed this trip the most. He said it was because of Sven and the fact that she was given more freedom than the others. Abbey thought it was because Liz was old enough to understand what it all meant. She realized her father was now a part of history and witnessing his transformation from Ivy League professor to distinguished scholar had touched her in a way it couldn't have touched the younger kids. That impact would stay with Liz forever.

It would stay with Abbey too. The pageantry of the event might have ended at the official ball, but the memories she was taking with her from Sweden were forever etched in her mind. Soon, they'd be back in New Hampshire where school and work and activity schedules would dictate their lives and bills and homework and all-night hospital shifts would take precedence, but she reveled in the fact that even when the chaos became overwhelming, she could retreat into the special little spot in her memory bank where the magic of Nobel week would always reside.

Distracted by a mental slideshow of the past ten days, she didn't notice Jed sneaking up beside her until he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and pressed his lips to her cheek. "Any chance I could pry those thoughts out of your pretty little head?"

"Are you patronizing me?" she questioned playfully.

"I wouldn't dare," he insisted. "Seriously, what's on your mind?"

"You really wanna know?"

"I really wanna know."

"I wish we didn't have to leave. I wish we could stay in Sweden forever."

"Would be nice, wouldn't it?" He rested his chin on her shoulder. "We could leave everything behind and just move to Sweden. Abandon our careers, our lives...start a new life, just you, me, and the girls, far away from hospitals and lecture halls."

"Right about now, that sounds heavenly." Abbey closed her eyes as she moved her hands to her stomach to cover his.

"We could do it, you know."

"Yeah?"

"Sure, why not?"

"What would we do for money?"

"I could be a fisherman." With only a twinge of uncertainty, he donned a determined grin.

Abbey laughed. "A fisherman?"

"What? I'd make a great fisherman."

"You don't fish."

"I could learn to fish."

"Be serious."

"I am serious. That's my New Year's resolution, in fact. I'm going to take you and the girls fishing."

"Like I said, be serious."

He softened his tone and said, "Like anything about this conversation is serious."

"I wish it was," Abbey replied wistfully.

"Yeah, but it just seems romantic now because we're here and at the moment, we don't have a care in the world."

"Except for you. Apparently, there's an anguished fisherman aching to get out of the economist's body."

"That's not nice." He discreetly tickled her belly until she laughed. "Just think, two more days and we'll be back to quick hellos and goodbyes over the breakfast table. I'll be leaving for work just as you return, exhausted from a 36-hour shift."

"Don't remind me."

"I will remind you, see, because you made fun of me."

"When did you become so unforgiving?"

"Right now," he whispered in her ear. "Just two more days."

"Two more days until what?"

Jed let go of Abbey and leaned back. Both of them turned to see Liz standing behind them.

"What's up?" Jed asked her.

"I wanted to tell you Ellie found your articles. The book's not on the shelf yet."

"Okay."

"What's in two days?"

"That's when we'll be going back home."

"I thought we were leaving tonight."

"We're leaving Stockholm tonight," Abbey told her.

"Where are we going?"

"That's a secret." Jed coiled his arm around Liz's shoulder and led her towards her sisters. "Your mom and I have something special planned."

"What?"

"Did you hear me say it was a secret?"

"Yeah, but you can give me a hint."

"No hints."

"Come on."

"No way."

"Just tell me what it starts with."

"Nope."

"Dad," she pouted.

"Lizzie," he returned in a similar tone.

"Tell me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Of?"

"When did you start talking in prepositions?"

"Dad!"

"Lizzie!"

Abbey shook her head and followed as Jed and Liz bickered all the way to the other side of the lobby.

TBC


	39. Chapter 39

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 39

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: Jed and Abbey prepared to leave Stockholm, but they told Lizzie their Swedish vacation wasn't over just yet; during a trip to a storybook museum, Jed entertained his girls with the story of Princess Katarina who lived in a magical Ice Palace (chapter 29); Jed and Abbey talked about him running for Congress (chapter 30)

Summary: The Bartlets visit the most famous "igloo" in Sweden - the Ice Hotel

* * *

Elizabeth wiped her sleepy eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's morning, Sweetheart," Abbey told her.

Liz stared out the window at the navy hues that filled the sky. "It's dark out."

"That's because of where we are."

"Where are we, Mommy?" Ellie curled up next to Abbey. Still tired, she laid her head on her mother's lap while Abbey ran two gentle fingers through her nest of soft golden curls.

"You'll find out soon, Goldilocks."

The overnight train ride through the villages and snow-trimmed forests of the Swedish countryside spurred a myriad of questions from the girls, but neither Jed nor Abbey breathed a hint of their destination. It was a surprise, they said from the start, and so, the girls were left with no other choice but to curiously enjoy the journey.

* * *

Dressed in several layers of thick sweaters, boots, and other warm garments, the Bartlets stepped off the train a few hours later, just in time to catch the first glimpse of winter's blue twilight reflecting off hundreds of dazzling icicles that hung from the branches of surrounding pine trees. Around them, snowy fields seemed to extend for miles beyond their sight and directly in front of them, a pack of huskies driving a sledge careened towards them.

"Mommy, doggies!" Zoey ran to pet the excited animals.

"A dog sled?" Lizzie threw her father a quizzical look. "A real-life dog sled?"

"That's how we're getting to where we're going."

"That's pretty cool."

"I thought it might be."

"So, where are we going again?"

"Nice try." Jed took her duffle bag out of her hand and dropped it on the fur-lined seats.

"I thought you said we were taking a taxi."

"Up here, Lizzie, this is a taxi." He led her to the other side of the sledge. "Come on."

They had traveled to the northern-most point of Sweden, deep in the heart of the Swedish Laplands - and the Arctic Circle - where hunting, hiking, fishing, and swimming engulf the summer months, and in the winter, when the rushing water of the lakes and rivers become frozen in time, dogs outnumber people and snowmobiling and sleds become the popular modes of transportation; where the sun hides just below the horizon for three whole weeks in December and a brilliant turquoise glow lights the landscape while the frigid winter temperatures carve endless tresses of ice out of fountains and waterfalls that sprayed their misty springs in July.

It was strangely silent in the Laplands that afternoon. No birds chirping or people talking. The only sound was that of the snow crunching beneath the paws of the twelve huskies preparing to pull the Bartlets along the frozen river. This was a place like no other and it was obvious from the moment they stepped on board the sledge, Liz, Ellie, and Zoey were awestruck by their surroundings.

Amused by their reaction, Jed and Abbey exchanged a satisfied glance, then held on to their daughters as the driver lifted the ice anchor.

* * *

The dogs braved the snaky curves of the river's path, crossing the woods and the remote forests of the vast Arctic wilderness. The girls paid careful attention to all the animals they saw emerging from behind the trees along the way and Zoey, the most animated of the bunch, bounced on Abbey's lap each and every time she spotted something unfamiliar.

"What's that?" she asked as she pointed to the unusual creature roaming the banks ahead.

"What do you think that is?"

"Ummm..." she paused for a moment. "A doggie?"

"That's not a doggie, you silly girl," Abbey teased her. "Seriously, what do you think it is?" Zoey shrugged. "It's a moose. Remember we saw a picture of a moose in that coloring book back home?"

The toddler nodded, then turned to search for more. Instead of a moose, she found another animal, one with velvety antlers grazing several feet away. "What's that?"

"You tell me."

When Ellie glanced over, she bolted out of her relaxed posture and sat upright. "Is that a REINDEER?"

Abbey laughed at her middle daughter's enthusiasm. "Yeah. It's a reindeer."

"We saw a reindeer! An actual reindeer, not just regular deer like we have back home! A REINDEER!"

"We're going to see a lot more than that, Ellie."

Jed sat back and listened to Abbey describe all the animals native to this part of the world. He loved hearing talk, loved the way her voice always lapsed into a few higher-pitched syllables when she spoke of nature. She had been that way since childhood, his father-in-law once told him.

Ever since Abbey's preteen years, weekend hikes with her mother through the scenic Vermont mountains had become a normal part of her routine. As an adult, she reveled in hiking the White Mountains of New Hampshire or along the designated trails at the national parks. Just as her mother taught her, she taught her children to admire wildlife in their natural habitat. It was a lesson that had rubbed off on all three of the Bartlet girls.

"I wanna go back!" Ellie protested as they passed the area. "I wanna see more reindeer!"

"You will, Ellie. You know where we are?"

"Where?"

"We're just north of the Arctic Circle..." Abbey pointed out a sign that welcomed them to the Arctic.

Her eyes nearly popping out of the socket, Ellie interrupted before Abbey could utter another word. "Are we going to the North Pole?"

Zoey jerked her head at the mention of the magical place she had heard so much about. "Santa?"

Jed chuckled. "No, we won't see Santa, Zo. I think the North Pole's a little too cold for us...or at least, for your mother's comfort. Look at her, she's shivering."

"It's 20 below," Abbey said.

"That's Celsius," Jed returned.

"It's freezing."

"It's crisp," he teased. "Anyway, girls, we can't go to the North Pole, but you know what, we're about as close to it as we can get. And that means that later, I promise we'll see more reindeer."

"What else?" Lizzie asked.

"Huh?"

"What else are we going to see?"

"We're going to see nature. We're going experience things we wouldn't get to do back home."

"And?"

"What do you mean and?"

"There's more to it, Dad. You and Mom wouldn't have agreed to let us miss more school unless there was something going on. So what's this really about?"

"We talked to your teachers. You have your assignments. You'll get the work done just like you have the entire time we've been in Sweden."

"Still. The plane tickets originally said we were supposed to leave Stockholm last night and go back to New Hampshire, but you changed the tickets. You planned this trip after we already arrived in Sweden, which means something happened. We're up here for a reason. What is it?"

He had to admit he was impressed by her deductive reasoning, a skill he was certain she inherited from Abbey. "You know what, Sweetheart? There is such a thing as being too smart for your own good. Just enjoy the day."

* * *

A short time later, the sound of laughter echoed from the distance, piercing the peaceful serenity of the deserted snowy fields. The huskies had crossed a couple of lakeside villages during the journey and were now following the path of the Torne River to the northern city of Jukkasjärvi.

When they arrived and turned the bend to head directly into town, Elizabeth scanned the winter wonderland in amazement. "WOW. It looks like we stepped into a snow globe."

Several feet of snow covered the ground, forming hills of undisturbed drifts with their microscopic crystals glittering under a charming little hamlet that looked like it had come to life right out of a holiday painting. To the left, ice skaters raced across the river while children frolicked in the snow on the banks. To the right, a wedding party had just walked out from a church known as the Ice Chapel.

"You know why that's called the Ice Chapel?" Jed quizzed his daughters. "The whole thing is made from ice. Even the pews. We can take a look if you want."

His offer went unanswered as Ellie and Zoey speechlessly watched the bride and groom hop on board a sleigh lit by a string of white lights and driven through the snow by reindeer while a couple behind them boarded a snowmobile headed on a safari through the roadless woods around Jukkasjärvi.

They were in a daze. And they didn't fight it. In fact, they consciously refused to snap out of it for fear it was all a dream of some sort. Lizzie was no better. She, too, was trapped in the fairy tale of it all and when she saw what was up ahead, she nudged Ellie.

There it was. Standing in the center of all the action stood a giant igloo made entirely of crystal clear ice from the pure waters of the frozen Torne River. Like a thousand diamonds strung together perfectly to catch the glow of the moonlight, the building sparkled from blocks away.

"Daddy, it's like Princess Katarina's palace!" Ellie said, reminded of the story her father read to her, Zoey, and Mallory at the storybook museum on Djurgården Island.

"It is, isn't it?"

"Is that...is that like a real hotel?" Lizzie squinted her eyes to get a better look.

"It sure is," Abbey answered. "Several winters ago, an artist hacked the ice off the river and built an igloo to house his sculptures. When tourists came to see the art show and realized there were no more hotel rooms, a few of them asked if they could sleep inside the igloo. The next year, more people asked to sleep in the igloo and pretty soon, it became the popular thing to do. So the town officially opened the Ice Hotel so guests could always reserve their own little igloo. Every May, the ice melts and all the water rushes back into the river. Every November they rebuild it."

"Everything's made of ice?" Ellie asked.

"Yep."

"The architecture?"

"It's all ice."

"The furniture?"

"Ice."

"Even the beds?"

"Yes, even the beds. Plates, glasses, everything, is made from ice."

As the sled came to a stop in front of the hotel, Ellie climbed out, so excited that she nearly fell face-first into a nearby snowdrift. "Will we get to sleep on ice cubes like the Princess in the story?"

"No," Jed sulked. "The ice beds will be uncomfortable, says your mother, so we rented a cottage across the river. We're just here to take a look at the sculptures in the lobby."

"MOM!" Lizzie pouted. "Come on. When will we get another chance to stay in an igloo?"

"Yeah!" Ellie whined as well. "Please! I really wanna sleep on a bed of ice, just like Princess Katarina!"

Abbey held Ellie's hand to keep her steady while Jed picked up Zoey. "It isn't like Princess Katarina, Honey. The temperature inside is below freezing. They have to keep it that way to prevent the ice from melting. You're going to be cold...very, very cold."

"That's okay!"

"You say that now, but believe me, when you climb into your nice warm bed and hear the crackling fire in the next room, you'll like the cozy little cottage much better."

"No, I won't."

"And neither will I," Liz added. "We want to stay in the igloo."

Abbey glared at Jed. "Look what you started."

He couldn't help but laugh at his wife's predicament. "I think we should take a family vote."

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

"Me..." Zoey thought for a second and then said, "four!"

"Don't you dare get their hopes up," Abbey grumbled to her husband. "Even if I agreed to it, it would be too late. I'm sure they're already booked solid."

"No, they're not," Jed smirked. "I figured you might change your mind so I went ahead and made a reservation just in case."

"You didn't."

"I did." He huddled the girls together. "Okay, who wants to stay at the Ice Hotel tonight?"

Abbey watched from outside their circle as every hand went up - even Zoey's. "All right, fine, but I don't want to hear a word of complaint from anyone."

"Babe, the only person who will be complaining about the cold, is you. For the rest of us, it'll be an adventure."

"An adventure that will no doubt result in frostbite." She had been giving him a hard time ever since he initially scoffed at her suggestion of renting a cottage, but the truth was, Abbey was as intrigued as her daughters by what they would find inside the legendary Ice Hotel.

"You'll enjoy it, trust me. You'll be singing a different tune by morning."

"I'll be a popsicle by morning," she groaned as she directed Liz and Ellie in front of her and walked alongside Jed.

They were soon escorted to their igloo suite which was decorated with beautiful Christmas ice sculptures and picture box ice windows overlooking the woods. Jed caught his wife's discomfort at seeing the master bed. Just as she had told the girls, it was made of solid ice with a covering of fluffy white snow on top of a thin fur mattress. Thick thermal sleeping bags were draped over the icy headboard.

He snuck up behind her and in that soft, sexy voice she found irresistible, he said, "You know, this place boasts Sweden's best saunas."

"And hot tubs." She reminded him that she had also done the research.

"And you know how much I love hot tubs."

"I do."

He pushed a few tendrils of silky auburn waves off the side of her face and tucked them behind her ear. "We still have the reservation at the cottage."

"No way. The girls will kill me if I back out now."

"In that case..." he touched his fingertips to the small of her back and walked her towards the couple's sleeping bag he had requested from downstairs. "Don't worry. The best part about staying in our very own igloo is that I get to keep you warm all night long."

Abbey smiled. "I'm counting on it."

TBC


	40. Chapter 40

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Series: Snapshots of the Past

Story: The Nobel Laureate

Chapter 40

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Previously: The Bartlets visited the most famous "igloo" in Sweden - the Ice Hotel; Jed and Abbey talked about him running for Congress (chapter 30)

Summary: During a nighttime reindeer sleigh ride through the village to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights, Jed and Abbey hold a family meeting

Author's Note: Thanks to all of you for reading and thanks for all the feedback you've given on this story! It's been a fun ride!

* * *

After dropping off their belongings and changing into full Arctic clothing and ski boots provided by the hotel, Jed, Abbey, and the girls started on a short walk upriver to a local restaurant where they splurged on a hearty meal of Swedish delicacies and hot berry drinks to prepare them for the night ahead.

It was a daunting task, avoiding the questions that Liz and Ellie fired at them when they left the restaurant. They couldn't understand why their parents insisted on waiting for a driver instead of hiking back to the hotel on foot, the same way they arrived. Zoey, who was frustrated that Jed had picked her up for fear that her tiny body would be swallowed by the massive snowdrifts that surrounded them, cried and whimpered in his arms until she felt the cold remnants of a shattered snowball that bounced off Jed's shoulder.

Jed turned around then to see his sneaky wife spying on him with a mischievous twinkle dancing in her eyes. Liz, Ellie, and Zoey fell silent, giving Jed their full attention as he handed Zoey off to his eldest daughter and kneeled down to pack his own snowball.

Abbey should have known better than to try to escape his retaliation. If there was one thing she had learned over the course of last couple of winters at the farm, it was that Jed Bartlet was the king of snowball fights. Neither she nor the girls could ever beat him, though the four of them had teamed up frequently to try.

Still, she hid behind the wood pillars that flanked the entrance of the restaurant, abandoning her shield when he boldly sauntered around. She had set only one foot on the stoop when he grabbed her by her hips and unapologetically smothered her with a handful of snow. Abbey fought back. With the help of her daughters, she hooked her leg around the back of Jed's knee, and yanked on his arm until he fell flat on his back into the soft cushion of a snow bank.

For once, Jed was overpowered. Zoey crawled onto his chest while Abbey, Lizzie, and Ellie pounded him with snowballs. His salvation came several minutes later when Ellie caught a glimpse of antlers heading towards them in the deep misty fog.

"LOOK!" she shouted.

Lizzie took Zoey so Abbey could help Jed off the ground. Together, they restrained the kids from running out to the middle of the path to greet the arrival of their reindeer sleigh.

* * *

"What if we don't see it?" Ellie cranked her neck back so far that the top of her head hit the rim of the sleigh.

"We will," Abbey replied.

"But what if we don't?"

"If we don't, then we'll try again tomorrow."

"But I wanna see it tonight."

Bundled up under a large wool blanket, each with his or her own thermos of hot chocolate, the Bartlets looked up to the sky as the reindeer trotted along the winding Torne River. Though they had never been so cold, Jed and Ellie didn't dare complain. They both knew it was worth the frigid temperatures and the tingling limbs if it meant that, for one second, they could see the phenomenon they had read about in astronomy books time and time again - the Northern Lights.

Lizzie wasn't nearly as excited. "It's really cold. Are we going to stay out here all night or are we going to give up at some point?"

Abbey had to agree. She pulled another blanket out of a wicker basket the driver had given them before he handed over the reigns and she spread it evenly over her three daughters. "That should help."

They crossed a clearing towards the outskirts of town where Jed stopped the reindeer and moved to the other side of the carriage so he could face his family. Ellie sat just across from him, Liz to one side and Abbey and Zoey on the other.

"Are we giving up?" Ellie asked, alarmed.

"No, we're not giving up, but while we wait, we are going to change our focus a little. There's something we want to talk to you girls about."

"I knew it!" Liz triumphantly declared. "I knew there was something going on! What is it?"

"We're going to have a family meeting."

"Here?"

"Yeah."

"But before we start, we want you to know that your father and I didn't bring you up here just for this reason," Abbey began. "We planned this excursion to Jukkasjärvi our first day in Sweden. It was just to have fun. Nothing more. It's important that you know that because we want you to be honest with us. You have to tell us how you really feel about what we're about to say because it's going to affect all of us."

"What is it?" Liz's jubilant tone was replaced with concern.

"Well..." Jed waited for Abbey to nod. "You know what I do in the state legislature, right?"

"You make laws," Ellie shrugged as if it was a trick question.

"That's right, I do. Those are laws that are passed for the state of New Hampshire. What if I said I could make laws that affect the whole country. What would you say?"

"Are you going to run for office...like the national senate or congress or something?" Liz questioned.

"Maybe. I've been asked to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. What do you think?"

Surprised, Lizzie paused for a moment, then said, "I think it's great! You'd be so good at it, Dad!"

"You think so, huh?"

"I do, but..." It took a few minutes to register, but when it did, Liz stopped to gather her thoughts.

"But what Lizzie?" Abbey prodded.

"I don't know what it means."

"I don't know what it means either," Zoey agreed.

"Well, it means that if I win, I'll be one of New Hampshire's representatives in Congress."

"No, I know that," Liz replied. "I mean, congress is in Washington. How can you work there? Are we all going to move?"

"No. You and your sisters will stay in New Hampshire with your mother."

"And you?"

"If I win, I'll have to move to Washington."

"Without us?" Ellie was outraged by the suggestion. "Why?"

And if Ellie was outraged, it usually meant that Zoey would be too, even if she didn't understand exactly what was happening. "Why, Daddy?"

"It won't be a permanent thing, Sweetheart. We'll have most weekends. And congress takes so many recesses. I'll be home so often, you won't even know I'm gone."

Abbey sat Zoey next to her sisters and joined Jed on the other side of the carriage. "That's right. He will be home a lot. Now don't get me wrong, if we do this, we're all going to have to make some sacrifices. And there will probably be times that you'll want your dad around and he just won't be able to be there. But if you guys are on-board, we're going to do our best to make it work."

Liz shook her head. "I don't like this idea. If Dad moves to Washington, we should all go."

Jed was touched by her loyalty. "Oh, Lizzie, I'd love nothing more, but we can't all move."

"Why not?"

"All right, back up," Abbey interjected. "Let's take it one issue at a time, starting with the campaign. The reason for this meeting is to get everyone's thoughts. If your father runs, it's going to affect all of you. Do you understand that?"

"Not really," Ellie said softly.

"You know how just a few months ago, there were campaign ads on television? Remember? They kept telling us to vote for this person or for that person."

"Yeah."

"Well, that's what's going to happen here. Instead of your dad going door-to-door the way he does when he runs for state legislature, he's going to be doing campaign ads."

"Daddy's gonna be on TV?" The idea energized the eight-year-old.

"Yeah, he is. And so will the people running against him."

"That's neat!"

"No, it's not, El." The point of their mother's message wasn't lost on Liz. "She's trying to say that the person who runs against Dad may say some mean things about him, the way they did before this year's election. Right?"

"That could happen, yes." Jed answered.

"Why would they want to be mean to Daddy?"

"Because that's how politics works," Lizzie blurted out, inviting Jed's disapproving response.

"Hey, don't say that."

"Why? It's true. All those commercials were awful."

"I know, but we're supposed to be weighing the pros and cons here and you shouldn't be filling Ellie's head with the negatives of politics without telling her about all the positives."

Ellie sunk back into her earlier confusion. "What positives?"

"I'll get to make national laws, for one. And I'll get to represent all the people of New Hampshire. I'll do things to help them, to protect them." When he didn't get much of a reaction, Jed continued. "And I'll be renting an apartment in Washington, D.C. which means that you guys can come to DC any time you want. How does that sound, Zoey? You wanna go to DC again?"

"Yeah!"

"Jed."

He detected Abbey's warning. "I'm just trying to point out the good things."

"Zoey has no idea what all of this will mean. Don't mislead her."

Though it was tempting to draw a picture so alluring that it would at least secure him Zoey's vote, he had to admit Abbey had a point. "Okay. Look, girls, I'm not trying to say this isn't a big deal. It is. It's a very big deal. This decision will determine the next few years for all of us. The reason we're talking to you is because what you have to say is important. If any of you are against this idea, I won't do it."

"You won't run?" Liz was shocked by that possibility. She assumed her parents had already made up their minds and that this discussion was to inform them of their decision.

"No. I won't run."

"Do you wanna run?"

"I don't want to do anything that makes any of you unhappy."

"But you do wanna run."

"I won't lie to you, Lizzie. The idea is an interesting one. Your mother and I have raised you to know how lucky you are - how lucky we all are - to live in this country where every person has a vote. Every single one of us can affect change. It's a privilege to be part of a democracy and it's one I never take for granted. So when the House Minority Leader approached me, yeah, I wanted to run. But I thought about it, about the logistics of the campaign, of winning, of losing, of living so far away from my family and suddenly, it seemed like a really bad idea. Then your mom made a few good points and we talked about it some more...and then some more after that and we realized that we can't just dismiss this opportunity as if it never existed. We decided that we had to talk to the three of you because the only way to do this is as a family."

"So it's up to us now?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, it is."

Lizzie brought up one of her earlier objections. "What are we supposed to say if they say the kinds of things about you that they said about each other before this year's election?"

"You're not supposed to say anything, Lizzie," Abbey replied. "That's going to be up to us to handle, not you guys."

"But how are we supposed to just ignore it?"

"By realizing that when they say those things, it's because they're scared out of their minds. Your father is an intelligent, handsome, charismatic man and when he speaks, people listen. That's going to scare his opponent. It's going to scare him so badly that he'll want to say whatever he can to make himself look better. Girls, we can't always live our lives based on what other people might say about us. Your dad wants to do amazing things in Washington and I don't think worrying about what people might say is a good enough reason to back out. Do you?"

Though she listened to her mother's speech, Ellie had other things on her mind. "But I still don't want Daddy to live in Washington alone."

"I'm not too crazy about the idea myself, Princess," Jed assured her. "But if I win, I'll have to come back to New Hampshire practically every week. I'm even going to open an office right there in Manchester. I meant it when I said I'll be home a lot. Washington will be where I work. New Hampshire will be where I live." He tucked a finger under Ellie's chin when she lowered her head. "Hey. You believe me?"

"Yeah," Ellie replied. "Will we get to call you?"

"Any time you want! Day or night, it makes no difference."

"And can we visit you in Washington?"

Abbey moved across the carriage once again to sit between Zoey and Ellie. "I'll tell you what, Ellie. If your dad wins, he'll be sworn in in January. Now, you guys have February vacation a month later and then you have spring break in April, right? Well, what if I promise you that no matter what, we'll be in Washington for those two weeks you're off school and your dad will try his best to come home all the weekends in between?"

"I'd like that."

Jed returned the sweet smile that lit up Ellie's face. "I'd like it too."

"You're really gonna help people, Daddy?"

"I'm going to try."

"Are we gonna vote on it?" Lizzie asked.

Jed shrugged. "Are you guys up for a vote?" Liz and Ellie nodded. "Okay then. Lizzie, join me over here."

Liz got up to change her seat. "Why are we spread out?"

"It's our answer to a secret ballot," Abbey replied, staying put between Zoey and Ellie. "We want each of you to vote with her heart and we don't want you swayed by one another. So when we ask for a show of hands, we want you far enough apart that you won't know what the others are doing."

"We're going to raise our hands?"

"Yeah."

"Even me?" Zoey asked.

"Yes, even you, Munchkin."

Liz was apprehensive about the idea. "Couldn't we do something a little less corny?"

"No." Jed dashed her hopes. "We're going to raise our hands."

"Majority rules?"

"Unanimous."

"Really?"

"Really," Abbey said. "It has to be unanimous. We don't want to force anyone into it. It's too important. Now, is everyone ready?"

"Yes," Liz, Ellie, and Zoey answered somewhat in unison.

"Okay, close your eyes."

Lizzie did as she was told, but as she clenched her eyes shut, she repeated, "This really is the cheesiest thing we've ever done."

"Elizabeth, no more talking or else I'm sending you to the igloo," Jed warned her.

"The hotel?"

"No. There's a miniature igloo about ten feet away."

"There is not." Liz peaked through one eye.

"Close that eye!"

She giggled. "You stopped here because of the igloo?"

"In case we got cold. Now close your eyes."

"This is still the cheesiest thing we've ever done."

"I know, but we're doing it anyway." Once she was sure their eyes were closed, Abbey asked the fateful question. "If you're in favor of your dad running for congress, raise your hand."

Jed laughed when he saw Zoey raise her entire arm without hesitation. He turned to see Liz who had also raised her hand, though her gesture had been less animated than her sister's. Finally, he and Abbey both looked to Ellie. Jed thought he had rid her mind of her soft-spoken protests, but deep in her heart, Ellie still had doubts.

She didn't understand the game of politics. The only time in her young life she had ever seen the competitive nature of an election play out in front of her was when Abbey challenged Jed on a ballot initiative. But because her parents had shielded her from the negativity of that race, she hadn't truly been exposed to the last election cycle and the firestorm of negative ads that Lizzie described.

She didn't like thinking about them and she couldn't comprehend why her father would want to open himself up to the possibility of such a thing. And more importantly, she didn't like the idea of Jed moving far away. Families should always be together, he had raised her to believe. What he wanted to do now contradicted that sentiment and for that reason, she thought about voting against the idea.

But then she remembered what Jed said when he told her about it. He would be helping people, she reminded herself, and despite the drawbacks, the end result would be a positive one.

With Jed and Abbey watching, Ellie's hand rested comfortably in her lap for what felt like an eternity. Then, slowly, her fingers began to move and she started to lift her wrist. Just as she reached her shoulder, she stopped though. Jed held his breath, confused by what she was thinking. Once again, Ellie raised her hand and this time, she extended her arm all the way above her head.

"Are you guys sure?" Abbey asked. "If anyone wants to change her vote, she can do it now." No one moved. "You're sure?"

"Yeah," Liz and Zoey replied.

"Yeah," Ellie answered a moment later.

The girls opened their eyes and stared at their parents.

Abbey watched Ellie's reaction as she told them the news. "So, it looks like we're gong to run. It's gonna be fun, right?"

Lizzie was clearly thrilled. "Are we gonna help?"

"Of course," Jed replied. "You can help if you want, but you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I wanna help."

"Me too!" Zoey added.

"I wanna help too." Ellie's response eased Jed and Abbey's concern. She may have been hesitant before, but now, she seemed a little more confident. "When do we start?"

"We won't start actually campaigning for at least a year."

"What do we do in the meantime?" Liz asked.

"In the meantime, we enjoy the last night of our vacation."

"I wish we could stay here longer."

"I do too." Ellie looked at her mother, pleading. "Can't we stay till Christmas?"

"I'm afraid not. For one thing, what about Santa?"

"What about him? Daddy said that Santa always knows where we are. He can bring presents to our room at the hotel."

"Girls..." Jed tried to interrupt the conversation when he saw a flicker of light high in the sky.

"We don't have a chimney in our room. How's he going to get in?"

"Girls..." Jed repeated.

With a sinister grin, Lizzie said, "The same way the boogey man does. Through Ellie's bedroom window."

Ellie glared at her sister while Abbey whispered to Zoey, "She's kidding."

"Girls..."

All eyes turned to Jed and he directed them to gaze up at the stars, where for the next few minutes, ripples of red, blue, and purple flames shadowed the green streaks that lit the sky. Like curtains blowing in the wind, the colorful rainbow of lights passed over them quickly and the bright points swirled like rhinestone-studded pinwheels for mere seconds before fading into an even emerald glow.

"Was that it?" She was initially uninterested, but even Lizzie had to admit that was the most spectacular sight she had ever seen.

"I wanna see it again!" Ellie stood up as if that would provoke another sighting. Liz followed her lead.

"Jed?" Abbey called out to him.

"Yeah?"

"You were right. That was pretty incredible."

Ever since he was a little boy, Jed dreamed of seeing the Northern Lights, the real spectacle, not the cloudy and obstructed version he occasionally caught over the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Now that he finally had, he was practically speechless. It was more incredible than he expected it to be, more breathtaking than he could have ever imagined.

All the books he had read and the pictures he had seen didn't do it justice. He realized now that no one could come close to describing the magic of the Aurora Borealis unless they had seen it themselves, and as he sat back in the sleigh and listened to the cold Arctic breeze humming around them, he counted his blessings that he had his family there to share it with him.

"It was, wasn't it?" he replied to his wife.

"What are you thinking about?"

He looked at each one of his daughters, then locked eyes with Abbey. "This...the five of us sitting out here, talking, bickering, complaining. Years from now, when I look back on our trip to Sweden, it won't be because of the Nobel Prize. This is what I'll remember."

Abbey stepped to his side of the sleigh and slid in beside him, holding up the end of the blanket to snuggle under it. "Me too."

The End

To Be Continued in Changes


End file.
